GHS Patriots Win Home Opener

By DEXTER WILLIAMS
The Greenville High Patriots (3-1, 0-0) hosted their first home game of the season and found the winning column again as they bested the visiting Mt. Bethel Christian Academy Eagles, 32-20.
The Patriots received the opening kickoff and put the ball into play at their own 30-yard line. After a penalty moved them back to the 20, Marquel Deering took the handoff and broke through the line for a quick 22 yard pick up to give the Patriots a first down on their 42-yard line. After a couple of pass attempts and a sack, the Patriots was facing a second and long and drew a penalty on the Eagles and moved the ball into their end of the field. However, the drive stalled and Greenville turned the ball over on downs just outside the 10-yard line.
Mt. Bethel took over and quickly went three and out, punting the ball back to Greenville at the 50-yard line. On the first play, Deering broke free and ran to the Eagles’ 34-yard line. After two penalties (one on each team), Greenville was facing a second and long and Zayden Kelley found his favorite target Jamere Smith for a 43-yard touchdown to put the Patriots up 6-0 (PAT failed) with 3:54 left in the first quarter.
After the ensuing kickoff, the visitors took over at their own 10-yard line. On consecutive runs by Alex Hedden and Wesley Dunlop to get out of the shadow of their own endzone, Ronin Thompson moved the ball to Greenville’s 30-yard line after a 36-yard run. From this point, the Eagles mixed passing and running to get into scoring position and was able to cross the goal line on the first play of the second quarter on a short run by Thompson to put them up 7-6 with the 11:50 before halftime. On the ensuing kickoff, Greenville fumbled the return and Mt. Bethel was in business at Greenville’s 32. However, the Patriot defense stiffen and did not allow any movement and Mt. Bethel turned the ball back to the Patriots. However, the Patriots turned the ball over before they stopped Mt. Bethel near the endzone with an interception by Deering late in the second quarter. However, with only a few ticks on the clock, Kelley threw an interception to Dimitri Sarakinis that he returned for a touchdown to give the visitors a 14-6 lead at the half.
The Eagles received the second half kickoff and quickly gave it back to Greenville when Tay Martin picked it off and set Greenville up for play at the visitor’s own 32-yard line. Three runs by Deering found him denting the scoreboard and bringing the Patriots closer, 14-12, at the 8:39 mark of the third quarter.
The next drive for the Eagles found them getting into Greenville’s side of the field through their ground game and untimely penalties by Greenville. After a short run by Dunlop, Eagle quarterback Gino Luckie hit Hedden for a touchdown to increase their lead to 20-12 (PAT no good) with 6:03 left in the third quarter.
The Patriots wasted no time in getting closer as they opened up rushing holes for Deering and he torched them for all 59 yards on this drive topping it with his second touchdown of the evening to close the gap to two, 20-18, at the 3:25 mark of the quarter.
The fourth quarter had Greenville scoring twice (a long run by Deering and a short run by Kelley) to provide the final margin of victory, 32-20).
Offensively, the ground game of the Patriots was outstanding as Deering churned out 277 yards on 26 carries and Kelley and Chris Jackson had 27 yards each. Total offense for the Patriots was over 400 yards with Kelley passing for 57 yards and a touchdown. Smith led the receiving corps with 51 yards on two receptions. Defensively, they only gave up 236 yards (119 passing and 127 rushing).
The Patriots will be off this Friday and return to the field on Friday, September 26 when they travel to Carrollton to face region foe Mt. Zion (Carrollton) Eagles (5-0) for their first region game of the season at 7 p.m.