Greenbrier crushes rivals to secure bragging rights
When Greenbrier head coach Mickey Derrick looked at his 2005 regular-season schedule, a stretch of games midway through the season caught his eye: Sept. 16 at Evans and Sept. 23 playing host to Lakeside.
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Greenbrier's Reggie Rice is brought down by Lakeside's Lance Driggers late in the first half in Evans. Rice scored three touchdowns for the Wolfpack. Greenbrier travels to Wayne County on Friday.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
"It's hard to get your team ready for two rivalries back-to-back," Derrick said.
That was the task at hand for the Wolfpack. After opening the season with a shutout loss at Morgan County, a home loss to Westside, and a win at home against Lincoln County, the Wolfpack reached the two-week span that would determine a year's worth of Columbia County bragging rights.
Greenbrier now owns those rights.
The Wolfpack survived a hard-fought battle at Evans two weeks ago before blanking Lakeside last weekend 25-0 at the Brierpatch.
Offensively, senior Reggie Rice and the Greenbrier backfield ran over the Panthers with a ground attack that totalled 278 yards and four touchdowns. On the defensive side of the ball, senior Erik Smith led the Wolfpack in a performance that included a goal line stand on fourth and goal from the 3-yard line.
Smith sacked Lakeside quarterbacks Travis Azar and Chris Drayton in the second half including a forced fumble and fumble recovery on the same play.
Azar and Drayton, Lakeside's main offensive threats, were limited to only 4-of-15 passing for 55 yards and a combined 16 yards rushing.
Rice led Greenbrier's offensive production with three rushing touchdowns, while Freddie Jones finished the Panthers on a fourth-quarter, 24-yard touchdown run.
Greenbrier (3-2, 2-0) will travel to Wayne County (2-3, 0-2) on Friday night for another Region 2-AAAA matchup.
Lakeside (2-3, 1-1) will look to rebound by playing host to region opponent Jones County (1-4, 1-1).
Harlem's Brendan Gray drops back to pass in the game against Thomson.
photo by Jason Smith
Augusta Christian 33, Heathwood Hall 35
In a battle of the top two teams in the South Carolina Independent School Association, No. 2 Augusta Christian fell short of No. 1 Heathwood Hall in a roller-coaster region battle.
The Lions took command early with a 21-7 lead after one quarter spurred by Brad Meister's 82-yard kick return for a touchdown. Heathwood Hall responded with 21 straight points in the second quarter to take a 28-21 lead at halftime.
Augusta Christian fell behind in the fourth quarter 35-27, but Jay Harmon's 80-yard touchdown run late in the game brought the Lions within striking distance. The two-point conversion attempt, however, failed and gave Heathwood Hall the victory.
Augusta Christian (4-1) will return home to face Porter-Gaud on Friday.
Harlem 7, Thomson 46
Lakeside's Brian Gross-Bias charges downfield for a long gain before being forced out of bounds late in the second quarter against Greenbrier.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
For two quarters, Harlem hung with their region rivals on the road. Thomson scored on their first possession of the game, but Harlem answered with a 12-yard touchdown pass from Brendan Gray to Gabe Greer to tie the game at 7-7. Thomson took a 13-7 lead at halftime and never looked back.
The home team let loose in the second half with 33 points on five rushing touchdowns. Harlem managed only 72 yards on the ground and 20 through the air in the loss.
Harlem (3-3, 1-1) will travel to Glenn Hills on Friday for a Region 3N-AAA contest.
Evans 6, Jones County 27
Evans remained winless on the season with a loss in the team's first road region game of the year. The Knights came up short with only a touchdown. Evans' eight-game losing streak is the longest in school history.
Evans (0-5) will travel to Statesboro (5-0) to face the top team in Region 2-AAAA play.