Suttle Scores Late, Bland Preserves Win for Spartans

FAIRLEA- In one of the weirdest, most unorthodox games played, the Greenbrier East Spartans overcame some offensive red zone issues and other miscues to defeat the Riverside Warriors 24-20 on Friday night, Aug. 30 at Spartan Stadium in Fairlea to open the 2024 season.

There were bad snaps, fumbles, interceptions, more fumbles, and TWO safeties’ (in the same game).

But the most memorable play came with 2:12 left to go in the game.

Brody Hamric dropped back on a 3rd-and-6 and fired a strike to Nate Suttle, who made the catch with a defender on his back, and Suttle turned on the jets and raced to the end zone for a 64-yard touchdown.

“It was very good for the team. I’m very satisfied with that last play,” Suttle said after the game.

“Still wish we didn’t have to pull off a big play like that at the end of the game, you know we would like to be up comfortably, but we executed it perfectly and got it done,” he added.

The opening quarter was full of unusual happenings. The Spartan defense forced a three-and-out on Riverside’s first series and as Warrior punter Eli Taft set up to punt, the ball was snapped high over his head. Taft tracked the ball down and kicked it out of the back of the end zone for a safety and East (1-0) took a quick 2-0 lead.

Then, it was up to the Spartan offense to capitalize and their very first play of the season was as good as it gets. Hamric took the snap and pitched the ball to Suttle on the right side, then Suttle threw back down the field to Hamric who had leaked out down the sideline and 54 yards later, the Spartans were in business. But once they got inside the red zone, they could not get it going, and it was something that lasted most of the night.

Three consecutive turnovers on downs, sandwiched by fumble recoveries from Logan Vanfosson and Grant Burdette, were how the Spartans finished the opening quarter. After one, the score was still 2-0, East.

That changed quickly in the second, but it was for Riverside’s benefit.

Warrior freshman Malakhi Hope broke free through a huge hole up the middle for a 78-yard touchdown as Riverside took a 7-2 lead after the extra point from Taft.

On the next possession, with the Spartans moving the ball with Alleghany transfer Brady May and some Warrior penalties aiding the drive, East got the ball all the way to the Riverside 1-yard line, but after that, regressed backwards in three plays back to the 13-yard line and the series ended in yet another turnover on downs and a missed opportunity.

But on the ensuing Riverside possession, the Spartan defense did its job again and forced another punt from Taft. And again, a high snap went over Taft’s head and eventually ended up out of bounds past the pylons for another safety as East trimmed the lead to 7-4 in the bottom of the fifth–actually 7:57 left in the first half.

The Spartans would finally get something going on the next drive. After a dose of May on the ground, Hamric found him wide open in the middle of the field for an eventual 52-yard touchdown completion as East took a 10-7 lead with 6:54 left in the half.

That score stayed the same at the break.

East got the ball to start quarter number three, but Riverside’s Kobe Coping stepped in front of a Hamric pass and picked it off. He returned it all the way to the 2-yard where he fumbled, but his teammate, Kaleb Shanklin, jumped on it for an unconventional Warrior touchdown. That made the score 14-10 just 21 seconds into the third.

Jysheim Green had a huge sack of Riverside’s Xzaveon Whitestone and that seemed to fire the Spartans up a bit. On their next possession, East used May again for some big runs and those eventually set up a 12-yard TD pass from Hamric to Donavin Penn as the Spartans took back the lead at 16-14.

Other than a fumble recovery from Brayden Brown, things stayed relatively quiet for awhile. That changed when Hope scored from six yards out and gave the Warriors (0-1) a 20-16 advantage with just 3:16 to go in the game.

Then, Hamric and Suttle’s play stole the show just one minute later.

“We executed perfectly and got it done,” Suttle said.

“It’s week one and there’s going to be stuff you have to get fine-tuned for the first game. Next week we expect it to be even better than this week,” he concluded.

Not to be overlooked in the game was Spartan linebacker KeShawn Bland. Bland was all over the field on defense and recovered a fumble that was caused by Deandre Toliver to seal the game.

The Spartans racked up 386 yards of offense (179 rush, 207 pass) and allowed just 254 to Riverside.

May had 129 yards on 26 carries and added the 52-yard touchdown reception. Hamric threw for 207 yards and three scores and Suttle had 56 yards receiving and a TD and threw for 54 yards.

Burdette, Brown, and Bland all recovered fumbles. The Spartan defense was opportunistic all night.

East will hit the practice field this week and get ready for a big one next week at home as the Woodrow Wilson Flying Eagles come to Spartan Stadium on Friday, September 6 in an atmosphere that should be electric.

Stats courtesy of 103.1, The Bear.

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