Underdog Gorillas look to advance Saturday

GREGORY — The Gregory High School football team travels to face Deubrook Area in a 9AA semifinal playoff game at 4 p.m. Saturday in White.

The No. 3-seeded Gorillas (9-1) upset 2011 state champions Bridgewater-Emery/Ethan in the first round and eked out a 40-38 victory over Leola/Frederick in the quarterfinal round.

The last time Gregory made the championship was in 2007, where it lost to Emery/Ethan.

Deubrook Area also won by two points in its quarterfinal round against Potter County and remains undefeated with a record of 10-0.

This is the first road playoff game for the Gorillas, and head coach Brian Allmendinger said his team is used to traveling throughout the year and shouldn’t be affected.

“You always want to play at home, but we aren’t going to let that affect us,” he said.

Gregory is coming into the game as the underdog for the first time this postseason.

“Although we were seeded higher, we felt like the underdog in the first round,” said Allmendinger, referring to the game against the Seahawks. “Being the underdog is not something that we relish necessarily but there is no pressure on us and that’s OK.”

Allmendinger said his team has been focusing on defense in preparation for the semifinal matchup.

“They are very good offensively,” he said. “We’ve been concentrating on what they like to do and working on ways to stop them. We’re looking to slow them down a little.”

On offense the Gorillas are led by dual-threat quarterback Jaden Bartling, who has 1,607 yards rushing and 21 touchdowns on the ground this season, along with 1,342 yards passing and 23 touchdowns through the air.

Zach Sengelman has led defensively with 90 tackles and one sack in 10 games.

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