In delayed quarterfinal playoff game, Gainesville knocks out top-ranked Hughes

FAIRBURN — Despite a week’s delay and ample drama leading into Friday night, Gainesville football made a win over a previously undefeated, top-ranked Hughes look easy.

Gainesville took command with a dominant finish to the first half and start to the second half, rolling to a statement 40-32 win over Hughes.

The teams traded blows throughout the first half before Gainesville took the night’s first two-score lead with a pick-six. Hughes appeared to be driving towards a game-tying touchdown when Darryn Williams intercepted a deflected pass and returned it 70 yards for a 27-13 lead.

“There were a couple times in the game where they got a score, and then we went and got another score, then they got a score,” Gainesville coach Josh Niblett said. “And then all of a sudden, we get the pick-six, and I thought that was a shot in the arm.”

Hughes nearly tied the game at 20-20 a few snaps earlier. The Panthers ripped off a long touchdown run that was called back due to a late holding penalty behind the play.

Gainesville quarterback Kharim Hughley said the interception revitalized a Gainesville sideline that was starting to feel momentum slip.

“It got the energy back up,” Hugley said. “We were in a dull moment, and just to get that pick, that was a big energy booster for the team.”

The Red Elephants took the two-score lead into the half and only built from there.

Gainesville recovered an onside kick attempt from Hughes to open the second half. A Hughes personal foul on the kick gave Gainesville a short field, and the Red Elephants quickly put the game out of reach with another touchdown drive.

Hughes pieced together a final-minute touchdown drive, capped by a two-point conversion that brought the Panthers within a possession, but there wasn’t enough time left to continue the momentum.

Hughley, a Clemson commit, led the way with four touchdown passes. The Red Elephants complemented the air attack with a dominant ground game.

The Red Elephants last played football on Nov. 21, when a sidelines-clearing brawl at Brunswick shortened the second-round playoff game in the third quarter.

Brunswick, which trailed 42-0 at the time, took the loss, ending their season. The GHSA handed down several punishments, including suspending 39 Gainesville players for their involvement in the brawl.

Gainesville appealed the decision with the GHSA and got four players’ suspensions reversed. Then the school took the case to court, where a judge granted Gainesville a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction, preventing the GHSA from enforcing the suspensions.

All suspended Gainesville players were cleared to play Hughes in a game that gained national attention as the story developed.