FAIRLEA- The 2025 high school football season is officially halfway over.
And for the 2nd ranked Greenbrier East Spartans, they continue to roll right along without a care in the world.
East celebrated the annual homecoming game with a big victory over the Shady Spring Tigers, 43-6, in front of a large crowd on Friday, Oct. 3 at Spartan Stadium in Fairlea.
As they have done lately, the Spartans set the tone right from the very beginning on a beautifully executed 13-play drive headlined by running back AJ Godfrey. Godfrey pounded through tacklers, ran through defenders, and eventually capped the series with a 1-yard plunge into the end zone that took 4:44 off the clock early.
Then, after forcing the Tigers to a turnover on downs, Greenbrier East (4-1) got the ball back and again, made things look relatively easy. Before the first quarter clock ran out, Godfrey racked up 38 yards on just three carries and then carried the ball a couple more times. On the sixth play of the drive, Hamric sucked the Tiger defense in and fired a perfect play action 25-yard touchdown pass to Kaden Stone. On the extra point attempt, kicker Jace Obermeyer picked up a loose ball and threw a successful pass to Grant Burdette and the Spartans led 15-0 at that point.
And the Spartans still weren’t done.
Later in the half, Nate Suttle took a misdirection handoff and raced 63 yards down the field for East’s third TD of the night. Suttle made an impressive juke move that left the Shady defender wondering where he disappeared to. That score put Greenbrier East ahead 22-0.
That was the score at the break. Also, at halftime, Spartan linebacker Zayir Lee was crowned the homecoming king. Carter Wolfe took home the queen honors.
The second half was just more of the same. Hamric, who has been extremely good the last three games, controlled the half with his ability to lead and complete passes. He connected with Suttle for a 35-yard score early in the third quarter that put the Spartans ahead 29-0.
But out of all the good plays and all the touchdowns, the most fun one was arguably the one that occurred with 3:53 left in the third. Gage Blevins, a starting lineman on both sides of the ball, lined up as an eligible pass catcher and lived up to that billing when he caught an 11-yard TD pass from Hamric. East went up 36-0 after that score.
Shady (1-5) got on the board with the ensuing kickoff as another Gage, Gage Spears this time, returned the ball 86 yards to make the score 36-6.
Hamric capped the Spartan scoring with a 29-yard touchdown scamper midway through the fourth.
East gained 388 yards of total offense, and the defense was spectacular again as they held the Tigers to just 82 yards on the night.
Hamric went 12-17 for 149 yards and four total touchdowns (1 rush). Godfrey gained 137 yards on the ground with a touchdown on 27 carries. Suttle (4 rec, 57 yds, 2 total TDs), Stone (4 rec, 46 yds, TD), and Grant Burdette (3 rec, 35 yds) all contributed heavily in the victory.
Greenbrier East has a tough one next Friday, Oct. 10 when they travel to Princeton to take on the Class AAA no. 3 ranked Tigers for a potential top 3 showdown.
Stats courtesy of 103.1, WRON.
