CLOVER @ GAFFNEY RECAP

What we had at The Reservation on Friday night was offense, offense and more offense. The Gaffney Indians defeated the Clover Blue Eagles 41 to 27. The teams offenses did it in different ways, as Clover did it on the ground, by eating time of possession and Gaffney did it with the big play and a balanced attack. Clover had the ball for 65 plays for 382 yards, 362 of the yards on the ground, with a time of possession of 31:36. Gaffney had the ball for 42 plays for 489 yards, 241 on the ground and 248 passing. Gaffney's DeEdward Burris had a huge night, as he ran for 129 yards on 8 carries scoring 3 TDs and passing 10 of 16 for 248 yards and 2 TDs. Lets look at the game by quarter.

FIRST QUARTER

Clover received the opening kick and moved down the field deep into the Gaffney red zone. It looked as if they were going to take an early lead, but the Tribe forced a fumble to halt the Eagles drive. The Indians would quickly move the ball down the field and would score on a 54-yard TD run by DeEdward Burris for a 7 to 0 lead. Clover would answer right back, as they moved down the field and scored with a 1-yard run from QB Aaron Miller to tie the score 7 to 7 at the end of the 1st quarter.

SECOND QUARTER

Gaffney would get the ball back and move into Clover territory, but Clover would intercept a Burris pass to stop the Indians drive. Clover's offense would do what they had done all game, move it into Gaffney territory looking like they were going to take the lead. Gaffney's defense would force another fumble to stop the Clover drive. The Gaffney offense shifted back into big play mode, as they would score on a 57-yard run by C.J. Miller for a 14 to 7 lead. Clover moved the ball back down the field, aided by Gaffney penalties and a fake punt, but was held to a 33-yard field goal to cut the Gaffney lead to 14 to 10 at the half.

THIRD QUARTER

Gaffney started the second half with an impressive drive that ended with Burris scoring his second TD of the game with a 19-yard run to make the score 20 to 10. The Clover offense would respond again, as they drove the ball down the field an scored on a 5-yard run by Davantay Brown, to cut the Indians lead to 20 to 17. The Gaffney offense was not finished in the third quarter, as they quickly drove the ball down field and scored on a 12-yard run by Burris, his third rushing TD of the game, to increase the Tribe's lead to 27 to 17 at the end of the third quarter.

FORTH QUARTER

The forth quarter was more of the same, as Clover would answer the Gaffney score with one of their own, with Davantay Brown scoring on a 30-yard TD run to cut the lead to 27 to 24. The Gaffney offense came right back and scored on a 30-yard TD pass from Burris to Khris Brown to increase the score to 34 to 24. Clover would come right back, but their drive would stall and they had to settle for a 26-yard field goal to cut the lead to a one possession game. With the score 34 to 27, the Gaffney offense would respond with another big play, as Burris connected with Khris Brown on a 41-yard TD pass to make the score 41 to 27. This score would be the one that put the game away, as time was on the side of the Indians. Clover tried to mount one last drive, but Gaffney's Coby McDowell would end their last drive with an interception. The Indians would run out the clock and escape from The Reservation with a hard fought exciting victory over Clover 41 to 27. The Tribe improves their record to 5 and 2 over-all and 1 and 0 in Region 3 4A.

My View From The Stands..... (1) I saw a Gaffney offense that was firing on all cylinders and is getting better and better. (2) I saw a Gaffney defense that needs to start playing better against the run. (3) I saw a Gaffney team that committed way to many penalties, especially of the personal foul variety. They need to play more disciplined. (4) I saw an improved kicking game. They need to continue to get even better.

Until Next Time.