FAIRLEA- Realistically, no one thought the Greenbrier East Spartans football team would pull some rabbit out of their hat–or helmet– and defeat Class AAA’s 2nd ranked Princeton Tigers on Friday night, Nov. 1.
Once it became clear that the Spartans would be missing several starters due to injury, any thought of a good performance went completely out the window, and that is exactly how it played out on the field.
East (3-6) went down to the potential future state champs by a final score of 81-6 on a night where Little Ms/Mr. Spartan took center stage before the game and was won by Aena McClintic and Layton Hanna.
The 81 points allowed by Greenbrier East are the most points given up by a Spartan football team in school history. The 75-point loss is the biggest margin of defeat in school history.
Yes, the Spartans were missing a handful of key players. However, there are now officially more questions than answers after setting two records at the wrong end of the history books.
And things started wildly even when play kicked off.
The Tigers (9-0) got the ball first and scored when Chance Barker hit Brad Mossor on a 40-yard touchdown pass where Mossor caught the ball and juked a defender down the sideline. That put Princeton up 7-0 after Jayce Gum’s extra point.
Then, on the ensuing kickoff, the Spartans had their only life all night. Nate Suttle fielded the ball at the 10-yard line and raced 90 yards the other way for a kick return touchdown. The extra point was missed, however, and Princeton led 7-6 with just 1:04 left in the game.
And the Spartans never came close to scoring again.
After a couple hard runs by Penn state commit Daniel Jennings on the subsequent possession, Barker found Marquel Lowe for a 46-yard touchdown and a 14-6 Princeton lead.
On the Tigers next possession, it was Jennings this time who rumbled across the goal line from 12 yards out and he gave the Tigers a 21-6 lead with 7:29 still remaining in the opening quarter.
Suttle, who played quarterback for one of the inured Spartans, Brody Hamric, got picked off on his next pass attempt and that turnover set up another Tiger score, this one an 11-yard receiving score from Lowe again.
Mossor took over for Princeton in the second quarter and was a huge reason the score got so out of hand so quickly. He had three interceptions and took two of them back for scores. He also hauled in a long touchdown catch before the break as the Tigers took an unreal 62-6 lead into halftime.
Both teams emptied their benches in the second half as the Spartans were able to get Cole Collins, the JV quarterback, into the game as well as running back Ty Neal. Princeton put up three more scores with several of their JV players in the game.
East had just 58 total yards of offense on the night. The Tigers exploded for 519 plus had two defensive TDs.
Jennings had 14 carries for 157 yards. Mossor had three catches, 109 yards, and four total touchdowns. Barker threw for 212 yards.
Due to the score, we will name our ‘Football Friday’ player of the week this Monday rather than having an online poll.
The Spartans will conclude their 2024 season next Friday night, Nov. 8 when they host the Nitro Wildcats on senior night. The Wildcats are ranked 5th in Class AAA.
Stats courtesy of 103.1, WRON.
