According to the football schedule, the Greenbrier East Spartans were set to head to Putnam County to face the powerful Poca Dots this evening.
However, Poca, winners of 11 straight regular season games and home of Kennedy award winner Ethan Payne, will not play this week due to Putnam County hitting orange on the COVID-19 metric chart.
Instead the Spartans will trek their way to Jefferson County to face the Jefferson Cougars. Jefferson is coming off of a 49-6 loss to Musselman last week, in a game that also was not on their original schedule after George Washington had to cancel due to Covid concerns.
The Cougars were just 3-7 last season and lost their top two offensive weapons, quarterback Corbin Peterson and running back Francis Diaz, plus their top offensive lineman, Corey Shaffer who is playing now at Morehead State.
Sammy Roberts is the new quarterback this year for the Cougars and his favorite target is Jon Gidney who caught 35 passes for 518 yards in 2019, but wasn’t a factor in last weeks loss to Musselman.
On defense, Jefferson runs a 4-2-5 scheme. They like to fly around and their first goal is to stop their opponents from running the ball effectively. Mussleman’s Blake Hartman gashed the Cougar defense last week for 149 yards and had a 90-yard kickoff return for a score.
Those numbers will jump out at the Spartan coaches as Colby Piner had similar success in the Spartans 39-12 victory over the Flying Eagles of Beckley last week.
As long as East’s red zone defense plays like they did in the opener, they should be able to control the game with their dynamic offense. Piner, Monquelle Davis and Quentin Wilson will have ample opportunities against the struggling Cougars. Nate Baker, Christian McNeely and Bryson Ormsbee will also have chances for big games.
The contest kicks off at 7:00 PM at Jefferson High School.
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