Defense, Wimbley Help Daniel Roar Past Greer

GREER | Greer entered Friday's regular season finale hoping to force a three-way tie for the Region II-4A championship. The Yellow Jackets had no answer for Daniel's sensational sophomore combo of quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='1094520' first='Jace' last='Grass'] and wide receiver [player_tooltip player_id='1467841' first='Trey' last='Wimbley'] though. Wimbley caught seven passes that accounted for 203 of Grass' 291 yards passing as the Lions rolled to a 33-7 victory.   The win gives Class 4A No. 5-ranked Daniel (9-1, 6-0) the outright region championship. It's the seventh consecutive region title for the Lions, who've gone 35-0 in region play during those seven seasons, and 26th region crown in program history.   "This means a lot to our team that we got this done tonight," Wimbley said. "I've got to credit our defense. If it wasn't for our defense, we wouldn't have that kind of (final) score."   The 26-point margin was really not indicative of how closely the game was played. Daniel only outgained Greer (4-6, 4-2) by 50 yards (448-398). The reason for the score being as lopsided as it turned out was that the Lions' defense put on an absolute clinic of "bend but don't break."   A clearer way to describe it would be that Daniel's ferocious defensive front had Greer freshman quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='1822089' first='Xavier' last='Sammet'] running for his life all night. Sammet often made terrific runs out of nothing, but the closer the Yellow Jackets got to the goal line it became a situation of "nowhere to run and nowhere to hide." Greer advanced to at least the Lions' 27-yard line on six different possessions and came away empty each time.   "We just wanted to be aggressive and get to the ball. That was it," said senior [player_tooltip player_id='1819128' first='Tallah' last='Eison'] (pictured), who had a team-high five tackles and three of Daniel's eight sacks for the game. "I'd say we're playing at about 85 percent of where we want to be. Y'all ain't seen nothing yet. We're working on it though."   The Lions came roaring out to start each half. Malik Maddox returned the opening kickoff 46 yards to the Greer 32. Three plays later, [player_tooltip player_id='1608532' first='Kingsten' last='Bibb'] ran for a 30-yard touchdown and Daniel took a 7-0 lead exactly one minute in.   On the Yellow Jackets' ensuing possession, they faced a third-and-16 play when Sammet hit fellow freshman Zay Moseley on a 58-yard reception to the Daniel 23. That drive ended on a fourth-down incompletion and that tone for the game was set.   Oddly enough, Greer was nowhere near the end zone when it tied things up midway through the first quarter. Calvin McCoy took a handoff and raced 75 yards untouched for a touchdown.   Maddox again had a great kick return to the Greer 45. After a 28-yard pass from Grass to Wimbley to start the drive, the Yellow Jackets were flagged for roughing the quarterback on each of the next two plays. On the next, Bibb scored from four yards out to give Daniel a 13-7 lead.   The Lions extended the lead to 20-7 on the best looking play of the night early in the second quarter. Wimbley ran a deep route and Grass put it right on the money as Wimbley stretched back to haul it over his left shoulder but never breaking stride for a 54-yard touchdown.   Greer put together a 15-play drive from its own 10 to the Daniel 19, but had to settle for a 40-yard field goal attempt on fourth-and-14. After a high snap, the kick was short and wide.   There were only 21 seconds left, but Daniel had no interest in getting into the halftime locker room quickly. Grass threw to Bibb for 26 yards on the next play and then found Wimbley for 49 yards on the next before Greer's [player_tooltip player_id='1734657' first='Noel' last='Sitton'] made a touchdown-saving tackle at the two. With two seconds left, the ball moved to the one when another roughing the passer penalty was marked off. Bibb was gang-tackled for a five-yard loss on the final play of the half.   "We didn't have our best game. We kind of missed some opportunities on offense and gave up some big plays on defense. But all year we keep talking about our resilience," Daniel coach Chris Stone said. "I'd say we were pretty dang resilient tonight."   Avoiding disaster didn't create much momentum for Greer coming out to start the second half though. After Eison's third-down sack forced a three-and-out, a shanked punt went out of bounds at the Yellow Jackets' 37. Grass hit [player_tooltip player_id='1732654' first='Anthony' last='Scott'] for 33 yards on Daniel's first play of the half and then scored on a four-yard keeper on the next to push the lead to 26-7 just 55 seconds into the third quarter.   Sammet scampered 54 yards on the first play of Greer's next drive, which reached the Daniel seven. After a third-down sack by Jaiere Benson, Daniel's [player_tooltip player_id='1476834' first='Teigen' last='Pounds'] came up with a 27-yard interception return on fourth down.   The Lions closed out the scoring in the fourth quarter when [player_tooltip player_id='1820861' first='Daimien' last='Curry'] scored from four yards out.   Bibb finished with 91 yards rushing on 11 attempts and two touchdowns, while Curry had 40 yards on nine carries. Bibb was also Daniel's second-leading receiver behind Wimbley's huge night as he caught two passes for 43 yards.   In addition to Eison's three sacks and Benson's one, [player_tooltip player_id='1738821' first='Bryson' last='Freeman'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1592019' first='Dexter' last='Johnson'] each had two apiece for the Lions.   "Those guys get after it. If we don't get to the quarterback, we're being held. That's just the truth," Stone said. "We can't run anything in practice against our starting defense because our ends and tackles keep getting through. They make our guys better, but man it's hard to have practice."   McCoy led Greer with 146 yards on 19 carries. Thanks to minus-51 yards worth of sacks by Daniel, Sammet had just 39 yards rushing on 17 attempts. Sammet finished with 177 yards on 10-of-27 passing, but was also victimized by several drops. Moseley had three catches for 97 yards.   Not to get lost in Daniel's big defensive night should be the incredible performance by Greer senior linebacker [player_tooltip player_id='1734552' first='Sammy' last='White'], who had game-highs in tackles (11), tackles-for-loss (five) and sacks (four).

GREER | Greer entered Friday's regular season finale hoping to force a three-way tie for the Region II-4A championship. The Yellow Jackets had no answer for Daniel's sensational sophomore combo of quarterback Jace Grass Jace Grass 6'1" | 180 lbs | QB Daniel | 2028 State SC and wide receiver Trey Wimbley Trey Wimbley 6'0" | 165 lbs | ATH Daniel | 2028 State SC though. Wimbley caught seven passes that accounted for 203 of Grass' 291 yards passing as the Lions rolled to a 33-7 victory.