Pauls Valley rallies to defeat Bethany
Pauls Valley 19, Bethany 14

BY SCOTT SHARP, Special Correspondent Comments 0
Published: November 7, 2009

BETHANY — The Bethany Broncho cheerleaders casually giggled on the sideline with their backs to field, all but assured of a hard-fought Bethany win.

Meanwhile in the background, Pauls Valley quarterback Caleb Livingston, facing fourth-and-20 from his own 17-yard line, threw a wind-aided pass that carried over the Bethany defense and into the hands of receiver Ethan Gilbert.

Those giggles turned to screams of horror as Gilbert dashed to the end zone with 1:05 left to give Pauls Valley a 19-14 victory and a third-place finish in District 3A-2.

"We thought we were beat,” Gilbert said. "I mean how could you not think that in that situation?”

But Gilbert and Livingston grew up playing football together, and after a busted play on third and long, Livingston didn’t wait for coaches to send in a play.

"I knew that he would be open,” Livingston said. "I just called the play ‘Georgia’ and waited for him to come open down the sideline.”

While Bethany coaches were left wondering why their defensive back didn’t come out of his backpedal sooner when defending Gilbert, Livingston was wondering how the Bronchos could have left his best receiver in single coverage.

"Teams have been double-teaming him the whole season,” Livingston said. "I was pretty surprised that they had single coverage on him most of the night.”

Gilbert had 155 yards receiving and was part of 27-yard hook-and-lateral play that Tyler Harding ran in for Pauls Valley’s second score of the game. But Gilbert dropped a sure touchdown pass on fourth down in the first quarter. The senior was looking for redemption.

"I felt like I let my team down a little earlier in the game,” Gilbert said. "It felt good to make up for it.”

Terry Sanders scored Pauls Valley’s other touchdown on a 1-yard run in the first quarter.

The Panthers (5-5, 4-3) open the playoffs next week at Clinton.

Bethany (7-3 4-3) had just 146 yards of total offense.

Running back Devin Campbell scored on a 7-yard run and quarterback Ryley Claborn hit Tanner Robinson for a 39-yard touchdown pass.