WEEK 5 GREENVILLE @ GAFFNEY PREVIEW

It was an awesome sight, last Friday night at The Reservation, watching the Indians come on to the field walking together and seeing DeEdward Burris throw the spear into the ground at midfield. The Indians made the night even more awesome with their performance on the field, as they defeated the Byrnes Rebels 26 to 16. It felt really good to beat those class less Rebels and to watch as the visitors side became almost empty halfway through the 4th quarter. It was no doubt the biggest win for the Tribe at The New Reservation. The Indians have to get back to business this week and get ready for the unbeaten Greenville Red Raiders who invade The Reservation on Friday night. Lets take a closer look at this week's match-up.

Greenville @ Gaffney

The Greenville vs Gaffney games have been very close and exciting the past few years. The last four meetings have been decided by 10 points or less with Gaffney winning three of the four games. Last season, the Tribe trailed 29 to 7 in the 3rd quarter before rallying for a 39 to 35 victory. The 2008 game was played at The New Reservation and the Tribe won 23 to 13. The 2007 game was won by Greenville 21 to 14. The 2006 game was won by Gaffney 38 to 35. As we Indian fans know, the 2006 Gaffney team went 15 and 0 and won the State Championship. The bottom line is, Greenville is very good and they play Gaffney tough.

The Greenville Red Raiders are 4 and 0 with wins over Woodruff, Daniel, J.L.Mann and Greer. The Red Raiders offense is very much like the Byrnes offense that Gaffney saw last week. Some people have called them Byrnes West. They are averaging 27.5 points per game out of their spread offense. They have talented receivers with a lot of speed. They have a young but talented QB who is getting better and better.

The most impressive thing about the Red Raiders is their defense. They have given up only 30 points through their first four games. The Greenville team lost a lot off of last years defense and this year was supposed to be a rebuilding year, for that side of the ball. They have played very good against some good offenses. They are strong at LB and in the secondary.

The Gaffney Indians played very well last week against Byrnes on both sides of the ball. The offense was led by QB DeEdward Burris who completed 21-of-32 for 212 yards and 3 TDs. He also added 56 yards rushing. The Gaffney offense was a ball control machine, as they controlled the time of possession 35:00 to 13:00. The Indians did not turn the football over on offense for the first time all season. Gaffney WR Quinshad Davis had another big game as he caught 8 passes for 101 yards and 2 TDs.

The Gaffney defense played very well last week against Byrnes. They had an interception which set up the Tribe's first TD. They put a lot of pressure on the Byrnes QB, which knocked their timing off. They were strong against the run as well. The reason I am telling you what they did to Byrnes is because they should have the same game plan against Greenville. Greenville and Byrnes are very similar, especially on offense.

Keys to the game for Greenville..... (1) Get off to a good start so they can take the Gaffney fans out of the game early. (2) Force some turnovers. (3) Make Gaffney's offense one dimensional. (4) Hit some big plays.

Keys to the game for Gaffney..... (1) Go into the game with the right attitude. Build on the big win over Byrnes. (2) NO TURNOVERS! (3) Win the time of possession battle, to keep their offense off the field. (4) Play Gaffney Indians football.

Check out the Greenville @ Gaffney Recap on Saturday.

Until Next Time.

GO INDIANS!!! DEFEND OUR HOUSE!!! BEAT GREENVILLE!!!