 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Home |
Hall of Fame, & More |
Links |
Us |
Schedule and Roster |
River Region 3 AAA |
& Other Sports at GHS |
Yellow Jacket Football |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Home |
Hall of Fame, & More |
Links |
Us |
Schedule and Roster |
River Region 3 AAA |
& Other Sports at GHS |
Yellow Jacket Football |
|
|
 |
 |
|
 Blake Haney keeps Union one step ahead with T.D. catch in 2nd quarter It was a different night. There was no rain & the field was fairly dry. There were lots of points on the board. There was no Upstate Championship on the line. But it was a big game, a big crowd on hand, and one familiar result. The Union Yellow Jackets made it four straight against the Greer Yellow Jackets tonight in a 35-23 game. The hometown Jackets felt like they needed to get off to a good start, and things couldn't have been any worse early, as Union quickly built a 21-0 lead. They came with a wide open playbook, as the variety seemed to catch Greer's defense by surprise. They broke a 30+ yard run on the first play, then quarterback Justin Knox, who wasn't considered a huge running threat coming in, hurt Greer several times on fakes and rollouts with his timely keepers. Greer forced Union to 4th down on the 31, but Union converted, and later scored first to cap an 8 play. 74 yard drive to make it 7-0. After three plays and a punt, Union scored again as Charles Brandon scored from six yards to make it 14-0. After a Union interception an Greer's next drive, Union cashed it in, this time on a play deep in the playbook, as Knox pitched it to Brandon, who hit Blake Haney in front of two Greer defenders in the end zone from 23 yards to make it 21-0. Greer didn't get a first down until early in the 2nd quarter, but slowly began to crawl back into the game. After Andrew Smith punted Union deep into their own territory, Sergio Gilliam returned the punt to the Union 30. Greer moved to the 20 and stalled, but Collier Smith booted a 37 yard field goal to get the Jackets on the board at 21-3. The two teams swapped punts twice as the half ended. Greer looked to get back in it,as they recieved the 2nd half kickoff, but couldn't move it and had to kick. Kendrick Lyles of Union scooped up the bouncing ball of Smith's punt and raced down the field for a 54 yard return that put Union up 28-3 and had seemingly broken the Jackets backs. But, as has become one of ESPN's Lee Corso's quotes.."Not so soon, my friend". Greer began their rally, first of all by playing great defense. From early in the 2nd quarter until Union's last drive of the game, the Greer defense forced Union to punt on eight consecutive possesions. And even though the offense continued to struggle at times, the defense kept making Union give it back. Finally, Greer capped a scoring drive with a 13 yard Sinclair Cannon touchdown run, that with the extra point by Smith, made it 28-10. Another nice drive, aided by the defense giving good field position, and two Durrell Burnett runs of 13 & 2 yards, the last one for a touchdown, made it 28-16. The Jackets called time out & went for two, but didn't convert two minutes into the fourth quarter. Union threatened on their next drive but again the Greer defense stiffened and forced Union to punt again from midfield. This time Joe Wentzky burst through & blocked it, setting Greer up at the 30 with five minutes to play. A personal foul penalty on Union on the first play moved it to the 15, then Durrell Burnette ran it to the two, and Cannon took it in from there for a touchdown. Collier Smith made it 28-23 with the point after. After being totally out of it, and now squarley back in it, with the crowd roaring and momentum swinging their way, Greer was another Union punt away from a go-ahead touchdown drive. But Union responded. After being shut down for eight straight drives, call it experience, call it skill, call it that the Greer defense was worn out, or call it knowing how to win, they responded with a clinching 66 yard touchdown drive with Knox scoring from six yards away with just over a minute to play, to make the final score Union 35 Greer 23. The Poinsett Grocery players of the game for Greer, were Durrell Burnette on offense, and Brandon Harris on defense. Both had excellent games for the Jackets. Union improves to 8-1 on the season, 3-1 in the Enoree River Conference, while Greer drops to 6-3 overall, 2-2 in the conference. Greer travels to Clinton next week to face the Red Devils. This is an important game for Greer, as hopefully like last year, after the week 9 loss to Mann, can bounce back and get things rolling heading into the playoffs. We hope you will make plans to be in Clinton, but if you can't listen in on 800-AM. Keep the heads up Jackets. There are a lot of people who still believe that this can be a special year!! G-News stats & scoring........... G-Online's photos from the Greer-Union game... Union holds off Greer- G-News | Byrnes | Chesnee | Berea | Eastside | Newberry | Riverside | Broome | Union | Clinton | Pickens | Clover | Union II | | Return Home | History, Hall of Fame, & More | Great Links | Contact Us | 2002 Schedule and Roster | Enoree River Region 3 AAA | Basketball & Other Sports at GHS | Greer Yellow Jacket Football | |
||
 |
 |
