The Bake’s Take: Shady Spring Edition

FAIRLEA- On Friday night, Oct. 5, the Greenbrier East Spartans waltzed right into H.B. Thomas Field in Shady Spring and controlled the game from beginning to end—almost—and rode back to Greenbrier County with a 34-21 victory under their belts.

In all honesty, the result caught a lot of fans off guard as the Tigers were 3-1 coming into the game and had a couple nice wins on their early season resume’.

Here are some thoughts and reactions to the Spartans second victory (2-3) of 2024.

The Spartans found their passion again and have not quit by any means:

Sometimes, three-game losing streaks can sink a team’s season and sour their attitudes on what is left in front of them, and I must admit, I kind of had that feeling about the Spartans after their ‘Battle of the Border’ loss to Alleghany. At the time, East’s last three games were a 38-0 shellacking at the hands of Beckley, a crushing 42-40 loss to Bluefield where East gave away a 19-point fourth quarter lead, and a 42-7 loss to the Cougars in a game that wasn’t even that close.

However, credit to the players, Ray Lee and his staff, and the fans for sticking with them as they did the opposite of roll over and quit. They stepped up to the plate—or field—and dominated the Tigers in all aspects of the football game. East’s energy was as good as it’s been all year, the coaches were engaged on the sideline, and the emotion shown after some plays was great to see. The Spartans have now created some positive momentum for the program going into the last half of the season.

The offensive line DOMINATED:

The big men up front had taken some criticism over the last few weeks. Quarterback Brody Hamric was typically seen scrambling for his life, Brady May was finding running room difficult to come by, and the receivers had to create their own highlight reels without seeing the ball a whole lot.

But the offensive line absolutely won in the trenches against the Tigers, and it almost looked as if Shady Spring was shellshocked from the get-go. When the Tigers watched film last week, they most likely noticed that they would have an advantage up front and that ended up being the furthest thing from the truth. Payton Ritter, Ashton Mentz, Harrison Smith, Rhett Baker, Gage Blevins, and all others who blocked at any point, came out fired up and got good leverage all night. Their strength showed and they opened holes all night for May, who finished with 125 yards and four touchdowns. It was a bounce back performance for a unit who was taking heat the last couple weeks. Now, after Friday night, they will be looked at as an asset moving forward.

The defense was as good as it’s been all year:

The Spartans allowed 21 points to the Tigers, but the game was a shutout until the first play of the fourth quarter. Brayden Brown really stood out early as he made a couple nice plays on kickoff coverage then surrounded the ball from his end position all night. Zayir Lee and Keshawn Bland made memorable plays on the ‘D’ side as did Logan Vanfosson and Kaden Stone. If I forgot to mention a defender, I apologize, but just know the defense played as well as a Spartan defense has played in a while.

The one negative reared its ugly head again: closing out a game smoothly:

The Spartans led 27-0 after three quarters and then led 34-7 with just eight minutes (literally, 8:00) left in the game.

But a couple onside kick miscues where Shady recovered two in a row, made things a little more interesting than they should have been. The Tigers eventually had a second-and-goal from the 2-yard line trailing 34-21 with 3:56 left, but a wild play call that resulted in a loss of seven yards saved the Spartans as the defense came up with a turnover on downs over the next two plays. For a few minutes, shades of the Bluefield contest came into everyone’s minds, but East was able to escape this time with an impressive Class AAA win.

Friday Quote to Live by:

“Always work hard, never give up, and fight until the end because it’s never really over until the whistle blows.” — Alex Morgan

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