Safety Gibbs makes big plays for Shenandoah

By Jeremy Stafford -- jstafford@nvdaily.com

WINCHESTER -- Shenandoah strong safety Larry Gibbs has seen the game of football from nearly every possible angle.

His senior year at Massaponax High School, he was a linebacker. Before that, he was a defensive end; and while he was playing linebacker, he garnered awards as an all-district right tackle. Indeed, it seems that Gibbs has played every violent, grueling, bone-wearing, skull-crushing position football has to offer.

"I played everywhere in high school," Gibbs laughed. "The only thing I haven't done is kick and punt."

Which is odd considering the 5-foot-11, 190-pound sophomore is built more like a point guard than a lineman, linebacker, or even a strong safety.

But Gibbs' brain tells him he isn't too small; it carries with it that linebacker's mentality, and that gritty, grimy psyche he acquired as a defensive end.

And it seems every one of Gibbs' teammates knows he's a solid hitter.

"He's not afraid to stick his head in there and go in for a hit," SU defensive end Mo Salih said. "He'll go head up on anybody, and when he sees the ball in the air, he's gonna try to go get it.

"He's a playmaker, he makes plays."

Specifically, Gibbs has made four standout plays this season, nabbing an interception in each of the Hornets' four games this season. Astonishingly, playing the ball is a skill he's only recently learned -- he only had two picks in high school -- but it's one he obviously excels at.

Oddly enough, Gibbs said he owes much of his recent high-flying success to Massaponax defensive backs coach Jeff Drugatz, whom the former linebacker never worked with in high school.

Over the summer, Gibbs returned to his high school in Fredericksburg where he ran seven-on-seven drills with his former teammates, with Drugatz watching over them and spitting out pointers to Gibbs whenever possible.

Drugatz taught Gibbs about positioning and about keeping low, making it easier to stop on a dime and change directions, and making those linebacker tackles even more explosive and devastating.

But Gibbs isn't a one-man show. He may have the four interceptions, he may have the 22 tackles -- 15 of them solos -- and he may have that crushing shoulder tackle, but what Shenandoah coach Paul Barnes loves most about the sophomore is how cohesive he keeps the young Hornets secondary.

"Larry's solidified everybody back there," Barnes said of the SU secondary, which features three sophomores and a freshman. "You always have to have one guy ... one guy in linebackers, one guy on d-line, one guy on the o-line ... and he calms everybody down.

"Larry's that guy."

Gibbs keeps them calm after a big play occurs, and keeps them focused so another one can't occur. This season, the SU secondary has given up only 453 passing yards, just more than 113 yards per game. Of the seven touchdowns the Hornets have given up, only two have come through the air.

"We haven't gotten to the point where we can just not communicate at all, [where] we all know what we're doing, we all know what we're thinking," Gibbs said. "But we all talk and communicate, and I like it better that way, personally.

"We're coming together, not only us four, but the whole defense, we're all coming together 'cause we know we can be one of the best defenses in the nation."

And with Maryville (2-2, 1-0 USA South) coming to Winchester today and sporting probably the best wideout Shenandoah has faced all season in Wesley Idlette, Gibbs and the SU defense will have to show that potential. Maryville has passed for 1,016 yards this season, 433 of which has gone to Idlette, a 6-foot sophomore.

Gibbs will have to be that cohesive glue, holding the SU secondary together, nabbing Scots quarterback Tim Conner's passes from the Winchester sky and keeping a potent offense in check.

"We all know Larry's gonna be back there," Salih said. "[Kevin Aaron's] gonna be back there, and [they'll] take away a whole half of the field. We're not worried about that. We know they'll cover, and if everybody just worries about their job ... they're gonna do what they gotta do."

Indeed, even Barnes is hardly worried about the tall, speedy Maryville wideouts. Because for Barnes, when a team has a safety with four picks in four games, what real worry is there?

When asked how his team will handle those Scots wideouts, Barnes simply shook his head and laughed: "We've got Larry Gibbs. That's what I say."