GAFFNEY @ GREENWOOD GAME RECAP

I went to Greenwood Friday night expecting to watch the Gaffney Indians improve their play and to get a victory over the Eagles. What I saw was TURNOVERS, MISTAKES and BAD CLOCK MANAGEMENT that would ultimately cost the Tribe a win. This loss definitely made it a long trip back down highways 72, I-26 and I-85 to Gaffney late Friday night. The Tribe had just given another game away. The score was Greenwood 1o and Gaffney 7.

The game started with the Tribe moving the ball down the field with a short crisp passing game. With QB DeEdward Burris spreading the ball around to different receivers, Gaffney quickly moved into Greenwood territory and looked as if they were going to get an early lead. Then, their first mistake of the game showed its ugly self, a holding penalty that was a drive killer. The Indians would punt the ball to the Eagles and the defense stifled them with a quick 3 and out. Gaffney would get the ball back after a Greenwood punt and on the first play the Indians fumbled the ball back to the Eagles. TURNOVER NUMBER ONE set Greenwood up inside the Gaffney 35 yard line. Greenwood would take advantage, as they drove the ball down and scored to make it 7 to 0 late in the first quarter.

On Gaffney's next possession, their offense would respond with another impressive drive deep into Greenwood territory, only to have TURNOVER NUMBER TWO stop another potential scoring drive. Greenwood would slowly move down the field with one of their two sustained drives of the game and finally had to settle for a field goal and a 10 to o lead. The Tribe would get the ball back with less than 3 minutes left in the half and they would put together another impressive drive as they drove the ball to the Greenwood 13 yard line with 13 seconds left in the half. The problem here was they had eaten up two much time between a couple of plays before calling timeouts. They had lost about 15 seconds. Those 15 seconds would prove to be very costly. So Gaffney was on the 13 yard line, with 13 seconds left before half time and no timeouts left. With time to throw two passes to the endzone to try to get a very important score right before the half, the Indians complete a pass to the one yard line and the clock runs out before they can get back to the line of scrimmage to stop the clock. BAD CLOCK MANAGEMENT cost Gaffney another TD! So a first half filled with missed opportunities and turnovers for Gaffney ends with them on the Greenwood one yard line and trailing 10 to 0.

The third quarter started with the Eagles putting together their second sustained drive of the game as they were able to eat up almost 7:30 off of the clock. The Indian's defense bent but did not break as they made the Eagles turn the ball over on downs in side of the Gaffney twenty yard line. The Indian's offense could not move the ball and they were forced to punt. The Gaffney defense would then force a three and out and Greenwood punted. The Gaffney offense would then start another impressive drive moving the ball deep into Greenwood territory before TURNOVER NUMBER THREE stopped them again. The third quarter ended with Greenwood ahead 10 to 0.

The forth quarter started with the Eagles and Indians exchanging punts until about the 6 minute mark of the forth quarter when the Indians finally put together a drive that would produce points. The Tribe's QB DeEdward Burris would hit WR Wookie Littlejohn with a 24 yard TD pass to cut the Greenwood lead to 10 to 7 with about 3:40 left in the game. Needing a stop to get the ball back to have a chance to win the game, the Gaffney defense came up with a big play stopping the Eagles on a forth and inches at the Gaffney 39 yard line with 1:59 left to play. The Indians would start a drive and eventually move down to the Greenwood 19 yard line converting two long third down conversions in the process. The Tribe also lost QB Burris to an injury during the drive forcing back-up QB Joey Copeland into the game. After throwing a couple of incomplete passes on first and second down the Greenwood defense would come up with a couple of sacks on third and forth down to preserve the win for the Eagles. Greenwood won the game on the scoreboard 10 to 7, but the Indians beat themselves on the field.

My View From The Stands

As I watched this game from the stands at J.W. Babb Stadium I saw these things I would like to comment on. (1) Gaffney's Jr. WR Quinshad Davis is a super stud receiver and one of the best in the state. He reminds me of another great Gaffney receiver named Sidney Rice. (2) The reason the Indians are 1 and 2 on the season is because of turnovers. The Tribe has turned the ball over eight times in three games and they have forced one. The Indians are -7 in the give away take away category so far this season. This has to get better. (3) The Tribe's kicking game as a whole has to improve as they are not only struggling kicking PAT's', teams don't have to worry about them attempting a field goal and they are not getting good returns from their kick off return team.

Until Next Time.