WHO: Greenbrier East (0-1) at Woodrow Wilson (1-0)
WHERE: Beckley, WV- Van Meter Stadium
WHEN: Friday, Sept. 1 at 7:30 PM
LAST WEEK: GE lost to Point Pleasant 26-7, Beckley beat Riverside 38-13
ABOUT THE OPPONENT:
Is this really a section in this preview? Arguably, and most likely, the biggest rival for the Greenbrier East Spartans, the Woodrow Wilson Flying Eagles, need no introduction to Spartan fans or the community. These two teams do not like each other, would not care if the other school shut its doors for good and do not even like to utter each school’s name out loud. For evidence of this, on the official Greenbrier East Spartans Facebook page on Monday, Aug. 28, there was a long post about how not to pronounce or write the “W” in XoodroX, but instead replace it with an “X” like that. So, sorry Spartan fans for the couple times I’ve used it already here. They can be Beckley from here on out.
Back to the game.
The Eagles are coached by Street Sarrett who is in his 24th year at the school and seventh as a head coach. Sarrett likes to play ball control football with an emphasis on the running game. He believes in keeping guys fresh and rotating a lot of players in and out of the game. In last week’s 38-13 win over Riverside, that is exactly what happened. Beckley ran for 365 yards, had 10 different players carry the ball at least once, and four scored touchdowns. However, defenses cannot fall asleep and focus solely on the run game. If that happens, and it is the obvious plan for the Eagles to make happen, quarterback Devin Richardson will throw it deep. He had only one completion against the Warriors, but it was a 68-yard pass. He also had an 83-yard TD pass, but it got called back due to a penalty. But Richardson can beat you if you let him.
Last season between the two teams in Fairlea, Beckley ran wild and ran often. They racked up 567 yards on the ground and had seven rushing touchdowns. Fortunately, Darmonte Mitchell, who had 276 yards and five of those scores, is gone, but the Eagles still have weapons as they proved in week one.
PLAYERS TO WATCH FOR BECKLEY:
Christian Stewart
Bryce Ford
Konnor Ray
Elijah Redfern
Elijah Waller
Ja’Marques Manns
The running trio of Stewart (4 carries, 82 yards, TD), Ford (11-65, TD) and Ray (7-72, TD) dismantled the Riverside defense all night last week. Redfern is a basketball star that also stretches the field as a receiver on the gridiron. The Spartans may opt out of kicking off to Waller as he ran the opening kick last week back 88 yards for the first score. Manns is a defensive presence for the Eagles and recorded a sack against Riverside.
PLAYERS TO WATCH FOR GREENBRIER EAST:
Brody Hamric
Nate Suttle
Carter Hamilton
Grant Burdette
Aiden Cole
Weston Pence
In his first career start in week one vs. Point Pleasant, Hamric played well and remained poised for most of the night. He finished 9-of-20 for 127 yards but made some nice throws and had a couple drops as well. The sophomore will make his second straight start this week. Suttle (12 rush, 25 yards) and Hamilton (11-17) took the bulk of the handoffs last week and although the Point Pleasant defense never let them get loose, if they get some holes up front, they both can break long gains. Burdette led the team in receiving with six catches for 62 yards and made some tough catches in the middle of the field. Cole got a couple sacks last week and is also a starting offensive lineman. Pence was around the ball a lot in week one and has a knack for finding the ball carrier in the slimmest of angles.
KEYS TO THE GAME FOR THE SPARTANS:
Assignment number one: Slow down the Eagles running game. Beckley’s ground attack is not as potent as it was last season when Mitchell was toting the rock, but it still has weapons. East has to win the point of attack up front and then have their linebackers get to the ball quickly.
East also needs a little more success on the ground offensively. First games are usually a little sloppy and even though the Spartans lost by 19, they showed signs that they can be a good football team. The same can be said for the running game. Suttle, Hamilton and even Hamric are more than capable of keeping the Eagles “D” honest so the offensive line must open some nice holes. Beckley’s defense gave up just 98 yards to Riverside, so getting things going on the ground is inevitable for the Spartans.
Finally, the Spartans need to play well on special teams. Owen Romero punted well for East last week in his first start and making the Eagles have to drive longer and run more plays by flipping the field could be a nice advantage to have in this one. However, there is more to it than just kicking. Defending the dangerous Beckley return team will be critical. An opening kickoff TD return like last week could give the Eagles a huge momentum boost from the get-go, and East wants to avoid that all costs. The theme around town all week has been BEAT XOODROX.
