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Top Middies playmaker thrilled to reach playoffs

Gates rarely leaves field, very versatile at getting ball in end zone

Middletown High School’s Jerry Gates has been a threat every time he has touched the football this season. Gates has two kick returns for touchdowns, two rushing touchdowns, one receiving touchdown, and six interceptions, including two for touchdowns.

Staff photo by Greg Lynch Middletown High School’s Jerry Gates has been a threat every time he has touched the football this season. Gates has two kick returns for touchdowns, two rushing touchdowns, one receiving touchdown, and six interceptions, including two for touchdowns.

ENLARGE PHOTO

By Skip Weaver, Staff Writer Updated 3:04 AM Saturday, November 7, 2009

MIDDLETOWN — The last two seasons, Jerry Gates has gone home on the bus right after school once the regular football season ended. Not so this year, and that has the Middletown High School senior excited.

“It feels great to be in the playoffs,” said Gates, who rarely comes off the field by playing defensive back, wide receiver and as a return man on special teams. “This is real special for us to go to the playoffs when it hasn’t been done here in 20 years.”

Last year, the Middies seemed on the verge of ending that playoff drought after a huge upset win over Colerain in Week 7. But back-to-back losses in the following two games ruined that opportunity.

“Last year, we couldn’t handle success,” Gates said. “This year, we can step on the field and beat anybody. It’s 0-0, and no one can beat no one until it shows on the field.”

Gates showed it on the field last Saturday, Oct. 31, as he almost single-handedly took the Middies to the playoffs with his three second-half touchdowns against Princeton.

The Middies trailed 21-13 early in the third quarter when he returned a kickoff 96 yards for a game-tying TD. He then added TD runs of 80 and 76 yards that helped change the Middies’ fortune.

“I just have the mentality that I can do whatever I want when I touch the ball,” said Gates, whose team will face Moeller at 7 p.m. today in Lockland.

Gates has done that all season. He led the Greater Miami Conference in interceptions with six, two of which he returned for touchdowns. He also led the league in punt-return yardage with 174 and ranked fourth in kick-return yards with 296 and two touchdowns.

But he wasn’t just a defensive and return specialist. Gates proved his electrifying skills enough as a junior that Middletown coach Jason Krause knew he had to get Gates on the offensive side of the ball as well.

Gates has 910 all-purpose yards.

“Energetic. Enthusiastic. A playmaker,” Krause said of Gates. “He is one of the most passionate players I’ve ever coached. We understand that he has to be on the field and he wants to be on the field making plays. He is confident he can make something happen every down.”

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