What We Saw: Greer 28, Eastside 14

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>GREER |</strong> Coach [player_tooltip player_id='771224' first='Will' last='Young'] had a simple explanation for what helped his Yellow Jackets pull away from Eastside for a 28-14 win on Friday.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"Our playmakers eventually made some plays," he said.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>That they did.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Chris Hall</strong>, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1012565' first='LaDainnian' last='Martin']</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='448976' first='Chase' last='Byrd']</strong> combined to make enough plays - both early and down the stretch - to give the Yellow Jackets a Region II-4A win.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hall and Martin (pictured) wasted no time in making their presence felt. Martin went 73 yards for a score on Greer's first play from scrimmage. On their next drive, Hall completed a pass for 17 yards, then took a keeper 53 yards to the house.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Three plays, two scores, 14-0 Greer. The duo combined for 178 yards on the ground and the two scores in the first half, staking the Jackets to a 14-0 lead in two possessions and 51 seconds of possessions.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Then it got tough. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Eastside showed a ton of fight, with QB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1734598' first='Peyton' last='Schrader']</strong> leading the way. Schrader threw a TD to <strong>Baron Leonard</strong> at the end of the first quarter, then scored on a keeper to tie the game early in the second quarter.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>And there it stayed, as both defenses dodged haymakers. That is, until Byrd came up big.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A diving grab extended one Greer drive, but Eastside snuffed it out with an interception in the end zone. On the Jackets' next drive, though, Hall found Byrd over the middle and Byrd did the rest, weaving his way into the end zone from 34 yards out to give Greer the lead for good. He ended the night with five catches for 94 yards and the score.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>After a late interception, Martin salted it away. He got 82 of his 216 yards on two carries on Greer's final drive, one for 52, the other for 30 and a score.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Getting Defensive</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Greer's defense turned in a good night, limiting Eastside to fewer than 300 total yards. They had four interceptions on the night, including a first half grab by <strong>Tycorien Gist</strong> that snuffed out an Eagles' drive at the Greer 24, another in the end zone in the second half, with <strong>Anthony Lyons </strong>turning away an Eastside scoring chance, and a diving catch of a tipped ball with less than two minutes to play by <strong>Darius Johnson</strong> that set the stage for Martin's game-clinching score. Greer also had four tackles for loss and two sacks in the game, and held Eastside's usually potent rushing attack to just 3.2 yards per carry.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Tough Yards</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The vast majority of that rushing total went to <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='448996' first='Kalvin' last='Banks']</strong> - ground out 113 yards on 28 carries. But he wasn't able to break free for his usual total with Greer focused on stopping him. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"I thought we did a good job in the box against him," Young said. "He's a really good back, and he was able to get going a little bit late. But I thought we did a good job against him, especially early.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->