John Tyler’s Bryston Gipson The ETSN.fm + Dairy Queen Defensive Player of the Week

Defense led the way in John Tyler's 30-12 season-opening win over Plano last Friday night, and one man in particular got the ball rolling.

John Tyler junior defensive back Bryston Gipson is the ETSN.fm/Dairy Queen Defensive Player of the Week after he returned two Plano turnovers for a touchdowns, helping the Lions secure their first win of the 2014 season.

Gipson (6-0, 180) picked off Plano quarterback Quinn Waterbury early in the third quarter, and raced 50 yards for a touchdown to break a scoreless tie. Then, with John Tyler holding a 23-12 lead late in the fourth, Gipson scooped up a loose ball and went 20 yards for another touchdown to seal the victory.

John Tyler's offense, which was held to just 90 first-half yards, scored two touchdowns in between Gipson's defensive scores. The Lions' DB got the scoring started, and put an exclamation point on the impressive second-half performance.

“He’s building off 2013, the last game — our playoff loss,” Holmes said of Gipson following Friday night's win. “That was the best game he had all year, and we lost. I told him going into the offseason ‘you’ve got to build on that, you’ve got to get better each week and each day.’ And that’s what he’s been doing. He had a great offseason; he ran track, went to the regional track meet, got stronger, got bigger. So he understands what he needs to do.”

Gipson's heroics highlighted what was a tremendous showing for the John Tyler defense. Plano totaled just nine yards and one first down before halftime, and aside from a 75-yard touchdown run and another 75-yard scoring drive in the fourth quarter, was limited to just 56 yards while committed four turnovers.

John Tyler's season resumes Friday night at Longview.