The weather held off at East Hall Stadium on Friday night, but Gilmer rained on East Hall’s homecoming, handing the Vikings a 26-12 defeat.

Led on the ground by fullback Jacob Teague, the Bobcats came into Valhalla looking to build on the momentum from last week’s win.

With a bruising running game that’s just what they got.

“Last week’s win has helped build confidence” Gilmer (2-1) coach Wesley Tankersley said. “All we wanted tonight was more.”

The confidence came early for the Bobcats as they marched 80 yards on their second possession, ending in a 11-yard touchdown run by Teague.

After an East Hall (0-4) punt and a 21-yard return by Cody Kephart, Gilmer took over on their own 38-yard line and went to work again.

Five plays later the powerful fullback, Teague, found the end zone again from 2-yards out to give Gilmer a 14-0 lead with 3:19 to play in the opening quarter.

After swapping three-and-outs East Hall finally found some offense putting together a very impressive drive that culminated in a 22-yard touchdown run by Austin Mahaffey on a pitch from quarterback Desmon Gardner with 8:14 to play in the half, the PAT was blocked and the score at the half was 14-6 Gilmer.

East Hall opened the second half with a nice kickoff return that was called back by a holding penalty.

Four plays later the Vikings had to punt and the man of the evening — Teague — was back to receive.

Teague took the punt from his 25-yard line and raced 75 yards to the end zone and with that score, any momentum the Vikings had gained was gone.

With 10:14 left in the third quarter Gilmer opened up a 20-6 lead.

Following that touchdown both offenses decided to take a break until Gilmer found the end zone again with 4:30 left to play in the ballgame when Kephart scored on a 1-yard run, giving the Bobcats a 26-6 lead.

The final score of the evening came with 17 seconds left to play when East Hall’s Jamond Witt returned a Gilmer Co. punt for a 75-yard touchdown.

Following the game East Hall coach Bryan Gray was optimistic, yet realistic, “We are just so young, sometimes we start six or seven freshman, but we can’t keep making mistakes if we want to compete.”