Greenbrier falls in second half

A full first half of strong play by the Greenbrier Wolfpack was negated in the span of four minutes Friday night at home in a 38-10 loss to Statesboro.

The Wolfpack ran dead even with the No. 2 Statesboro Blue Devils with a 10-10 tie four minutes into the third quarter. The rest of the night was a perfect example of why Statesboro hasn't lost in its last 20 games.

"They did what good teams do," Greenbrier coach Scott Chadwick said. "We tied the ball game up on them, and they came right back and put a drive together and really kind of took it to us."

After Wolfpack sophomore Bryan Andrews picked up a Statesboro fumble and ran 45 yards for a touchdown to tie the game, the Blue Devils were quick to respond.

Statesboro tailback Charles Joyce scored the first of his two rushing touchdowns on the Blue Devils' next possession to cap a six-play, 68 yard drive.

"From my perspective the momentum was in Greenbrier's favor up until that point," Statesboro coach Steve Pennington said. "Then we took the ball 60-some yards and scored. That may have been the turning point of the game because they went on to give us two big turnovers."

The costly turnovers came on fumbles from Greenbrier's Freddie Jones and Jamal Madison early in the Wolfpacks' next two possessions. Jones' fumble gave the Blue Devils the ball at the Greenbrier five yard line, and Statesboro's Joyce found the end zone again two plays later.

Madison coughed up the ball near mid-field but Statesboro still scored five plays later when quarterback Luke Connell threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Anson Anderson. The score came with 1:53 left in the third quarter for a 31-10 Statesboro lead.

"In the second half the turnovers just killed us," Chadwick said. "We talked all week long about how these guys are a big field position team. We gave them great field position in the second half."

The loss dropped Greenbrier's region record to 3-2 and moved the Wolfpack from third place to fifth place in the Region 3-AAAA standings.

With a region win over Richmond Academy, Evans is only half a game behind Greenbrier in the region standings with a 2-2 region record for sixth place. Lakeside, with a region record of 1-4, sits in eighth place.