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PREP FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS

Trotwood's Gilbert helped team become playoff force

Jim Witmer Sporting a tattoo "Married To the Game" on his right arm which shows his dedication to football, Antwan Gilbert, a junior running back for Trotwood-Madison High School, has helped the Rams advance to the Division II, Region 8 semifinals (basically, a Division II state quarterfinal) by rushing for 2,538 yards. It's one of the best single-season performances in area history.

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By Kyle Nagel, Staff Writer Updated 11:49 PM Wednesday, November 18, 2009

TROTWOOD — Antwan Gilbert, in a Week 3 game against Lebanon High School, took the ball around the left end.

“It’s funny,” Lebanon coach Shawn Lamb said, “because we preach pursuit to the football.”

So Lebanon pursued Gilbert, the Trotwood-Madison junior running back. He was a player who had shown promise to end last season and finally took the weight room seriously in the offseason.

He’s also a player, Trotwood coach Maurice Douglass said, who could be the Rams’ top lock-down cornerback if it were needed. He’s a player who runs 4.4 seconds in the 40-yard dash and, if he wanted to run track, probably could run a 10.6-second 100 meters, Douglass said.

Gilbert was in the early stages of a season that would turn into one of the best ever by a Miami Valley prep back on a team that would go from sub-.500 to an appearance in the Division II, Region 8 championship game Friday, Nov. 20.

And Lebanon was chasing him.

“I think we counted seven guys who pursued well and got to the football,” Lamb said, “and I’m not sure one of them had an opportunity to tackle him. He was that elusive to get away on a 49-yard sprint down the sideline.”

That run was part of a 278-yard, four-touchdown performance against Lebanon on Sept. 11 that officially announced Gilbert as a force in the Greater Western Ohio Conference. Since, Gilbert has collected a 12-game resume of 2,538 yards and 32 touchdowns in helping Trotwood transform from a spread-attack team into — with a burly, improved offensive line strengthened by offseason, core-based workouts — one of the area’s top rushing attacks.

Coaches say Gilbert is a standout football student and remains humble. He declined to he interviewed for this story, saying he would prefer to talk about his season after it has finished.

So, others have talked for him. They described an elusive, fast and increasingly strong back who rarely takes a direct hit and uses balance to spin out of knocks in the thick of the line. At 5-foot-10 and 170 pounds, Gilbert is still growing in strength, Douglass said, and is gaining attention from many of the country’s power football programs, including several Southeastern Conference schools. He’ll be attending the Ohio State-Michigan game on Saturday as a guest of the Wolverines.

Before that, he’ll lead Trotwood (9-3) against Cincinnati Winton Woods (10-2) while trying to help the Rams extend their best season since 1981, when Douglass was a Trotwood senior. Gilbert has already done plenty in the playoffs, rushing for 507 yards in two games to creep within striking distance of the best statistical season in area football history.

“Even when you’re getting on him, he’ll be laughing and smiling,” Douglass said. “It’s not disrespectful; it’s just his disposition. He just loves the game.”

Starting up front

Last June, the nine-man rotation of the Trotwood offensive linemen and tight ends made a pact to not cut their hair during the season (only trimming and shaping), and line coach Kerry Ivy said he wouldn’t shave his beard.

It was a show of unity, they said, that hadn’t always existed at Trotwood. The already big group has been aided by the addition of stretching and strenuous abdominal workouts to help it become a unit that can produce a 2,500-yard rusher.

“Last year our linemen couldn’t get down good in a three-point stance,” Douglass said. “This year, all of them, their butts are low and they’re firing off and engaging people.”

Ivy, who coached current Baltimore Ravens defensive tackle Brandon McKinney in high school, said during the summer he invited the 6-foot-2, 324-pounder to work out with his current Trotwood line. McKinney also spoke to the group about commitment.

“The biggest thing,” Ivy said, “is they have to believe in each other.”

As much as anything, seniors Kory Ivy and Derrick Stark said, they do their job to enjoy the view.

“You can get caught watching,” Stark said of Gilbert.

“It’s kind of different,” Kory Ivy responded, “because you don’t know what’s going to happen and where he’s going to cut.”

And what about seeing Gilbert rushing down the field?

“That’s when we know we’ve done our job,” Stark said.

A new commitment

Still, an offensive line can’t help a team gain 240.1 rushing yards per game without a skilled back.

Douglass said coaches knew Gilbert was talented when he was a freshman, as they noticed similar moves and vision from him that they saw in Michael Shaw, a Trotwood senior two seasons ago who now plays for Michigan.

Gilbert is the son of two athletes who went to Meadowdale High School. His father, Andre, was a basketball player, and his mother, Joyce, ran track. His father has filled his garage with weights, but Gilbert didn’t take much interest in pumping iron through his sophomore season, Douglass said.

Since, Gilbert has become a weight-room regular.

“(Monday) in the weight room he did 205 (pounds), four sets of five,” Douglass said. “When we started (in the offseason), he couldn’t do 185 but once.”

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THIS IS HOLDING

The Other 6

Possible future opponents for the winner of Friday’s Trotwood-Winton Woods game:

REGION 5

(3) Ashland (11-1) vs.

(1) Mentor Lake Catholic (11-1)

Ashland

Final state rank: 9

Conference: Ohio Cardinal Conference

Loss: Dover (10-1), 44-21

Notable: Playing in the regional title game for the third time in four seasons. Rallied from a 14-0 deficit with more than 9 minutes left last weekend against Warren Howland. QB Marcus Fuller passed for 2,316 yards in the regular season.

Mentor Lake Catholic

Final state rank: 4

Conference: North Coast League

Loss: Youngstown Cardinal Mooney (10-0), 42-21

Notable: Quarterback Jerrod Ronyak, a 6 foot 3, 205-pound senior, passed for 136 yards and ran for 121 more in Lake Catholic’s 31-24 regional semifinal win against Canfield last weekend. He threw for 1,596 yards and 15 touchdowns in the regular season.

REGION 6

(6) Maple Heights (10-2) vs. (1) Toledo St. Francis DeSales (11-1)

Maple Heights

Final state rank: None

Conference: Lake Erie League

Losses: Mentor (6-4), 28-24; Euclid (6-4), 34-30

Notable: QB Shaq Washington and running back Devonte’ Random provide a potent offensive punch. Last weekend, they combined for 296 rushing yards and Washington passed for 169 more in a 27-13 win against Toledo Central Catholic.

St. Francis DeSales

Final state rank: 5

Conference: Toledo City Athletic League

Loss: Toledo Central Catholic (8-2), 10-0

Notable: Beat Carroll 31-18 in Week 3. Won its regional semifinal against Avon Lake with a 35-yard field goal as time expired. Tyler Johnston threw for 70 yards, ran for 35 and got the key sack and forced fumble to set up the DeSales winning score.

REGION 7

(3) Columbus Brookhaven (10-2) vs. (8) Columbus Marion Franklin (10-2)

Brookhaven

Final state rank: None

Conference: Columbus City League

Losses: Hilliard Davidson (8-1), 22-13; Dublin Coffman (10-0), 33-0

Notable: Offense is led by combination of QB Tajuan Green (three TD passes in 21-10 regional semifinal victory against Logan last weekend) and RB Donivan Lipsey (171 rushing yards).

Marion Franklin

Final state rank: None

Conference: Columbus City League

Losses: Brookhaven (8-2), 23-21; Walnut Ridge (8-2), 21-14

Notable: QB Verlon Reed passed for 205 yards and ran for 81 more in last weekend’s 36-25 regional semifinal win against Olentangy Orange after spending time in the hospital with flu symptoms earlier in the morning.

Note: Winnter of Trotwood-Winton Woods plays the winner of the Region 7 final

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