Zach Smith leads Gateway with 4 TDs

By Ken Jackson
For the News-Gazette
In Thursday’s spring football classic, Gateway’s Class of 2013 took the chance to serve a little notice: this is our team, and come the fall, this could be our year.
Rising senior Zach Smith accounted for all four Panther touchdowns from the backfield and secondary in a 26-8 win over Florida Air at the Ridenour Athletic Center. He’ll be in his fourth varsity season come the fall, along with Aaron Roman and Josh Pizarro, who also had an impact Thursday. Quarterback Anthony Rodriguez and receiver Theo Belhomme, who connected for a first down, will be in their third season.
“This was our coming out party,” Smith said. “We’ve been waiting for this for three years.”
Smith carried 17 times for 148 yards and three touchdowns on runs of 4, 41, and 21 yards. In the fourth quarter, playing safety, he intercepted a pass and took it 80 yards, weaving through a flock of Falcons for the night’s final score.
GHS Coach Marlin Roberts said Smith and the other seniors-to-be have shown flashes of emerging dominance over their careers, and they know that they’ll need to offer it consistently starting this fall.
“They know we’ve been waiting on them to produce,” he said. “Zach’s becoming the leader we’ve needed. He’s worked his behind off in the last year or so and been vocal and saying, ‘Coach, I want the ball.’ He’s finally starting to believe that he can hang with anybody in the county.
The Gateway defense played a textbook form of bend-don’t-break; Florida Air, behind running back Josh Denton (26 carries, 163 yards), racked up 350 yards of offense but didn’t score until Ryan Remer pulled in a 64-yard touchdown pass against the second teamers. The Panthers made five stops on fourth down in the game against a team that had no real second string to bring in.
“The kids wanted to keep them at zero,” Roberts said. “They got off the field when they had to. They’ve really started buying into what the coaches are all yelling about in practice.”
Smith’s 4-yard run that capped a 65-yard drive late in the second quarter and Nafese Zaman’s PAT gave Gateway a 7-0 lead at the half. Smith broke numerous tackles on a 41-yard scoring run in the third quarter, and bounced what was supposed to be a run between the tackles to the outside on his final rushing score. His interception came as a nickel-package safety midway through the fourth quarter.
Other playmakers emerged on Thursday.
Rising sophomore Brandon Lakins hauled in a 45-yard pass from Rodriguez, and on defense, underclassmen Chase Smith, Michael Knight, Christian Velez and John Paul Sanchez recorded sacks.
Linebacker Ian Stevens, another four-year varsity player-to-be, was injured and could only play the position of ball boy on Thursday, but coaches said he’ll be ready for summer weight room workouts come June.