The weather forecast is looking good again for this Friday, Sept. 17 when the Greenbrier East Spartans host the Buckhannon-Upshur Buccaneers in an important game with early-season playoff implications.
The Spartans (2-1) are coming off a 31-16 defeat at the hands of Robert C. Byrd whereas the Bucs are fresh off their first victory of the young season, a 27-16 victory over Phillip Barbour.
B-U’s opening game against Bridgeport was canceled for Covid reasons and then they lost 31-13 to Ripley the second week of the year.
The Spartans have faced some good running backs this year — Point Pleasant’s Gavin Jeffers and RCB’s Jeremiah King — and that will not change this week when Savion Farmer rolls into town.
Though not on King’s level, Farmer is still a very productive player and will present the defensive front of East some problems with his speed and quickness. East’s secondary will be challenged to take the correct angles towards Farmer if he does get loose and bring him down.
Farmer and quarterback Ian Donnen provide most of the 20.0 points per game the Bucs put on the scoreboard, but Donnen does not really do it with his arm. He is a good leader that knows the type of offense first-year head coach Zach Davis likes to run and it is run-heavy.
Farmer had a 67-yard touchdown run against Ripley and ran for 159 total including a 77-yarder in the Phillip Barbour victory. He likes to get past the line, cut and get upfield and he is doing that quite nicely so far in this young 2021 campaign.
The East defense will need to be up to the task of dealing with another quick player but should execute it this week under the leadership of defensive coordinator Aaron Baker
The Spartans are hoping to bounce back from their loss with a strong performance. East is scoring 25.3 points per game and allowing 22.3 through three games this season.
Ian Cline ran for 85 yards against RCB and has 320 for the year.
Quarterback Monquelle Davis ran for 62 and passed for 70. He has seven total TD’s with 110 rushing and 285 passing.
Rushing will be the keyword in this game. Last season, the Spartans beat Buckhannon-Upshur 55-10 and ran for 486 yards. However, the majority of those yards came from the departed Colby Piner and Quentin Wilson. This will be Cline’s chance to continue to shine bright early.
With the Buccaneers (1-1) a year older, this contest will be closer than last year’s. The rushing threat of Farmer is enough to allow B-U to hang around for a half, but with the Spartans at home and looking to avenge last week’s loss, East will bounce back nicely and improve to 3-1.
Prediction:
Greenbrier East- 35
Buckhannon Upshur- 26
