GREENVILLE @ GAFFNEY RECAP

HEART STOPPER AT THE RESERVATION!! The Gaffney Indians were emotionally flat, lost a fumble inside the 1- yard line trying to score, roughed the punter twice, had a punt returned against them for a TD, had a long TD pass called back on a penalty and missed three PATs, but they still found a way to beat Greenville Friday night. These were the negative things that happened to them. The positive things that happened was they finally got their offense going and rolled up over 500-yards and five TDs. The defense played pretty much lights out in the 2nd half, that allowed the offense to finally get the lead and then hold on at the end. Lets recap the game.

FIRST QUARTER

The Indians came out flat and the Red Raiders came out on fire, as they jumped on the Indians 14 to 0 after their first two possessions. The Red Raiders looked unstoppable and the Indians looked lifeless. The Tribe's offense finally started showing a little life late in the 1st quarter, as they drove down and scored on a 6-yard TD pass from DeEdward Burris to Quinshad Davis, to cut the lead to 14 to 7 after the first quarter.

SECOND QUARTER

The Gaffney defense finally started showing signs of life, as they stopped the Red Raiders to give the ball back to their offense. The momentum of the game had swung over to Gaffney, as their offense moved down the field and had a first and goal inside the 5-yard line. The Tribe's DeEdward Burris would fumble the ball away inside the 1-yard line, as he tried to score on a quarterback sneak. The Gaffney defense would hold the Red Raiders to a three and out to force a punt from deep in the end zone. The Indians would rough the punter, but the Red Raiders had a motion penalty that offset the roughing the punter penalty. The Red Raiders had to punt the ball again and Gaffney roughed the punter again to give the Greenville offense a first down. This completely changed momentum back to Greenville, as Gaffney had returned the punt inside the Greenville 20-yard line. The Greenville offense would respond, as they drove down with help from a Gaffney unsportsman like conduct penalty, to kick a 32-yard field goal for a 17 to 7 lead.
The Gaffney offense was out of sink on their next possession and punted the ball back to Greenville. The short Gaffney punt was returned 34-yards for a TD by the Red Raiders and the lead was extended to 24 to 7 late in the first half. The Indians' offense would respond with a drive that ended with a critical TD seconds before halftime, as Burris hit Khris Brown with a 15-yard scoring pass to cut the lead to 24 to 13 at the half.

THIRD QUARTER

The Gaffney offense moved the football with their first couple of possessions of the quarter, but they stalled. Greenville would move the ball down into Gaffney territory, but were forced to try another field goal that was blocked by the Indians which would prove to be huge late in the game. The Gaffney offense would move the ball down the field and score on a 12-yard TD pass from Burris to Quinshad Davis. The PAT was missed, so the Tribe trailed 24 to 19 at the end of the quarter.

FORTH QUARTER

The Gaffney defense would come up with an interception on Greenville's next offensive possession and their offense moved the ball down the field and scored on a 1-yard TD run by DeEdward Burris. The Indians would score the two point conversion on a pass from Burris to Khris Brown to put the Indians on top for the first time in the game 27 to 24. The crowd was into the game and Gaffney had all of the momentum on their side. On Greenville's next possession the Gaffney defense came up big again, as they hauled in another interception. The first play after the interception Burris hit Khris Brown with a 63-yard TD pass to extend the Gaffney lead to 33 to 24. The Indians would miss their third PAT of the game. The Indians would force the Red Raiders to punt on their next possession and the Indians would hit another big play, as the scrambling DeEdward Burris hit Ryan Frock with a long TD bomb that had The Reservation rocking. The only problem was the Indians were flagged for holding. Greenville would then force a punt and they drove the ball down the field and scored on a 12-yard TD pass to cut the Gaffney lead to 33 to 31 with about 4:00 left in the game. The Gaffney offense responded with a drive that carried into Greenville territory that ate up most of the clock. On a third and long play the Greenville defense came up with a big play, as they would intercept a tipped pass at their 30-yard line with about 1:20 left in the game. Greenville had their chance. Because of the missed PATs by Gaffney, all the Red Raiders had to do was get into field goal range to have a chance to win the game. They would move the ball inside the Gaffney 35-yard line needing about ten more yards for an attempt at a game winning field goal. The Gaffney defense came up with a huge sack on third down that pushed them back. The Red Raiders would be flagged for delay-of-the-game and pushed back five more yards on 4th down. On 4th down, the Red Raiders threw a pass down inside the Gaffney 15-yard line that was intercepted by Khris Brown, with 12 seconds left in the game, to preserve a heart stopping win for the Gaffney Indians 33 to 31. What a wild game it was. The Indians improve to 4 and 2 on the season and have an open date next week.

My View From The Stands..... (1) The Indians were emotionally flat for most of the first half coming off of their big win over Byrnes. (2) The Indians probably have the best one two punch at WR in the state in Quinshad Davis and Khris Brown. (3) The Gaffney coaching staff did a great job with their halftime adjustments that seem to put life back into the Indians defense. (4) DeEdward Burris is getting better and better as a QB. He was 22 for 37 for 339 yards and 4 TD passes. He also had a TD run.

Until Next Time.

CONGRATULATIONS INDIANS ON ANOTHER BIG WIN!!!!!