Gaffney stuffs Red Raiders

Photo by LARRY HILLIARD Kenard Lipscomb breaks into the open in the Indians' 23-13 win over Greenville Thursday. Gaffney's Stan Easterling took defensive coordinator Dan Jones' words to heart.

In a pre-game speech, Jones urged his players to make a difference by either sacking the quarterback, intercepting a pass, recovering a fumble or blocking a punt.

Easterling did the latter two on one play.

Easterling blocked a punt and recovered it in the end zone for a touchdown to help the Indians to a 23-13 victory over visiting Greenville Thursday at the new Reservation.

Easterling's heroics came one play after Greenville's go-ahead touchdown was nullified by a holding call.

Ironically, Easterling's punt block came when the Indians set up for return. But Easterling glanced at the blockers and noticed they were breathing heavy on a humid night at the new Reservation.

"They were tired," Easterling said. "I just rushed in and ran through them."

Easterling outraced the punter to recover the fumble in the end zone.

"It looked like I was in better shape than the punter," said a smiling Easterling. "It just made me feel good to be the first defensive player to score."

Gaffney coach Phil Strickland described Easterling's effort as the pivotal play of the game.

"That definitely was the momentum swing," Strickland said. "We had a return set up but Stan came through. Stan just made a good play."

Both defenses dominated, holding the opposing offenses to under 300 total yards. Greenville outgained Gaffney 274 yards to 268 yards. But Greenville gained all but 70 of the yards in the first half.

After halftime, the Indians' defense turned up the pressure on Greenville quarterback Matthew Roberts, sacking him five times and intercepting him once.

"Hats off to the defense," Strickland said. "They did an excellent job. We told them at halftime, they had to make plays and they found ways to get pressure on the quarterback."

Roberts finished with 21 completions in 38 attempts for 202 yards. He was picked off three times.

Bo Davidson and DeEdward Burris each played quarterback for the Indians. They finished a combined 12 of 22 for 189 yards and two interceptions.

Strickland said the offense is still a concern.

"We are still sputtering," he said. "When we get something going, we had a penalty."

It looked like both offenses were in midseason form early on. Greenville took the opening possession and marched 65 yards for a touchdown on Roberts' 31-yard pass to Chris Hall, who had 13 catches for 141 yards.

Gaffney answered with an 80- yard drive on just two plays, with the touchdown coming on a screen from Davidson to speedy wideout Joe Craig, who outraced Greenville defenders 46 yards to the end zone.

Roberts and Hall hooked up again with 4:41 in the second quarter to put Greenville ahead 13-7 after a missed extra point.

Once again, the Indians responded by marching for a touchdown of their own. Jeremiah Cochran capped the drive with a 6-yard run. Josh Harris' extra point put the Indians up 14-13.

After Easterling's touchdown with 2:03 left in the third quarter, Gaffney added a safety less than a minute later for the game's final margin.

Gaffney, 1-1, travels to Union County on Friday.