What We Saw: Defense Powers Westside over Greenville

GREENVILLE | On paper, it looked like a huge Class 4A showdown between No. 7 Westside and No. 9 Greenville would be the Rams' explosive offense against the Red Raiders' stout defense. On the field, it was Westside's defense that stole the show Friday night at Sirrine Stadium.   Literally.   [player_tooltip player_id='346193' first='Zeke' last='Marshall'] had two interceptions and [player_tooltip player_id='139296' first='Jimmar' last='Boston'] had another to help Westside defeat Greenville 28-14. Marshall's two picks give him five this season for the Rams (5-1, 1-0).   "Zeke's a ball hawk. He plays centerfield back there and he's just a great athlete," Westside coach Brian Lane said. "He goes and gets the football when it's time to get it."   All three picks proved to be pivotal moments. The first three drives of the game resulted in touchdowns as Westside led 14-7 early in the second quarter. Greenville's looked to keep that trend going as its second drive reached the Westside 29 before [player_tooltip player_id='349806' first='Bryson' last='Drummond']'s fourth-down pass was tipped and intercepted by Boston.   That led to a 14-play, 82-yard scoring drive for the Rams that was capped by a two-yard run by DeMarco Evans for his third touchdown of the night. The Red Raiders' next drive reached Westside's 31 before Marshall's interception with 1:11 left in the half helped the Rams take a 21-7 lead into halftime.   Marshall's second interception helped seal Greenville's fate. After the Red Raiders scored with 7:15 left to cut the lead to 28-14, they forced a three-and-out and got the ball back with 6:17 left. They reached midfield before a deep throw was hauled in by Marshall with a little less than five minutes remaining. Westside converted a pair of third downs on its ensuing drive and the Red Raiders never touched the ball again.   "Zeke's just always around the ball because he reads the quarterback so well. ... Plus, he's like 6-foot-5," Boston said with a smile about his teammate in the secondary.   While Lane wasn't around for last year's matchup in the series, players like Boston and Marshall (pictured) were. They remembered all too well losing to Greenville 63-33 on their home field last season.   "I've been thinking about that for a long time," Marshall said. "We definitely had to come out and get them this year."   A highlight of Westside's defensive effort had to be the job they did containing Greenville standout athlete [player_tooltip player_id='163871' first='Mazeo' last='Bennett']. Bennett, who's been less than 100 percent healthy for a good bit of this season, did not have an official touch in the first half as his only reception was negated by a penalty. In the second half, Bennett had three catches for 24 yards as there were always seemingly a gang of Rams surrounding him.   Bennett did score from a yard out on a direct snap with 7:15 left to cut the lead in half giving Greenville some momentum. That carried over when the Red Raiders forced the first three-and-out for either team on Westside's ensuing drive. That set up Bennett's only chance at a punt return, but after fielding the ball at the Greenville 23 the South Carolina commit was quickly brought down by the N.C. State commit, Boston.   "The defense just played tremendous," Lane said. "We gave up 42 points last week (in a 56-42 win over Greer), so this week was getting to a new place and starting a new deal. I'm proud of those guys."   EVANS' WORKHORSE EFFORT   Westside's offense has been so potent this season that backup running back [player_tooltip player_id='1157819' first='Sharode' last='Richardson'] entered Friday with more yards rushing (573) than the starter Evans (386). That was due in large part to Richardson's 13.6 yards per carry average. On Friday, Evans was a workhorse. He never hit a particularly big play, but just kept churning out yards and shaving time off the clock. Along with those three first-half touchdowns, he had 84 yards on 18 carries by halftime. He finished with 109 yards on 28 attempts.   Richardson, who had just one carry in the first half, had five rushes on Westside's six-play drive to open the second half. The last of those went for a 23-yard touchdown to help push the lead to 28-7.   The touchdown was set up by a 37-yard pass from [player_tooltip player_id='346189' first='Cutter' last='Woods'] to [player_tooltip player_id='139314' first='Josh' last='Williams']. Woods completed 11-of-18 passes for 226 yards with no interceptions. Williams had 119 yards receiving on five receptions.   GREENVILLE NOTABLES   Brayden Renfrow caught five passes for 66 yards to lead Greenville. All of that came in the first half though after Renfrow took a scary hit from Marshall with 16 seconds left in the first half and didn't return. Jayvion Sherman ran 13 times for 65 yards also for the Red Raiders, who played three quarterbacks as Drummond was a little banged up entering Friday's game.   Drummond was healthy enough to start the game by completing each of his first five passes. The fourth of those capped Greenville's 10-play, 80-yard opening drive when he threw a perfect strike to [player_tooltip player_id='997216' first='KD' last='Mosley'] in the end zone for a 24-yard score.

GREENVILLE | On paper, it looked like a huge Class 4A showdown between No. 7 Westside and No. 9 Greenville would be the Rams' explosive offense against the Red Raiders' stout defense. On the field, it was Westside's defense that stole the show Friday night at Sirrine Stadium.