Becoming a yearly hotbed for NFL teams is not the first thing one may think about when Greenbrier County is brought up in conversation but over the last few years that is exactly what has transpired, and that is no different this coming week of Sept 12-18.
The San Francisco 49ers arrived at the Greenbrier Valley Airport on Sunday, Sept. 12 just before 8 p.m. after their 41-33 victory over the Detroit Lions earlier that day.
San Francisco chose to stay at the Greenbrier Hotel and practice there for the week since they play in Philadelphia this coming Sunday and will not have to go all the way back to the west coast just to fly back east again. They did the same thing last year as well.
The 49ers are looking to bounce back this season after a subpar 2020 year that saw them stumble to a 6-10 record, but the one positive in that is the third pick in the NFL draft they acquired. With that pick, they took North Dakota State quarterback Trey Lance who is drawing rave reviews for his play early in his career.
Against the Lions, San Francisco jumped out to a big 31-10 halftime lead and held off a late Detroit surge that got them the 1-0 start to the new year.
Lance did not get the start over Jimmy Garoppolo but did come in midway through the first period and tossed a 5-yard touchdown pass to Trent Sherfield. That score gave the Niners an early 7-0 lead.
Detroit tied the game up at 7-7 after tight end T.J. Hockenson’s touchdown catch, but the rest of the half belonged to San Francisco.
Sixth-round draft pick and rookie Elijah Mitchell had a 38-yard touchdown run, JaMycal Hasty scored on a 3-yard run of his own, Dre Greenlaw picked off a Jared Goff pass and returned it 39 yards for a score and Robbie Gould kicked a 40-yard field goal for the halftime lead.
Deebo Samuel had a huge day with nine catches for 189 yards including a 79-yard touchdown catch in the third period.
The Lions tried their best to come back and even got the ball to the San Francisco 24-yard line down just eight points, but Goff threw an incompletion on a fourth-and-nine that sealed the 49ers’ victory.
Garoppolo threw for 314 yards and a TD. Mitchell had 19 carries and 104 yards and a score in his first professional action. George Kittle caught four passes for 78 yards.
Fred Warner led the defense with 11 tackles.
When the team arrived at the airport, they boarded several charter buses and were escorted by police to the interstate to make their way over to White Sulphur.
San Francisco will hold normal practices and meetings this week before heading to Philadelphia this weekend to take on the Eagles.
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