Football Game Preview: Woodrow Wilson at Greenbrier East

WHO: Woodrow Wilson (1-0) at Greenbrier East (1-0)

WHEN: Friday, Sept. 6 at 7:30 PM

WHERE: Spartan Stadium in Fairlea

LAST WEEK: Woodrow (defeated Washington 17-10) GE (defeated Riverside 24-20)

COVERAGE: The Greenbrier Valley Channel live-streamed TV on Youtube, Facebook, and Optimum Channel 5- Radio- 103.1, WRON.

In what should be a largely crowded venue this Friday in Fairlea, the Greenbrier East Spartans hope to push their record to 2-0 when they host their biggest rivals of the last few decades, the Woodrow Wilson Flying Eagles.

Both teams come in at 1-0 which will make this game even more important than it already would have been anyway. Each team had offensive struggles at times a week ago with the Spartans struggling in the red zone after four opportunities in the first half yielded them zero points, and the Eagles went to overtime before recovering a Washington fumble in the extra session—much like East did—to survive an upset from the Patriots. Beckley also did not score a point in the second and third quarters in that one.

However, throw all that stuff out the proverbial window. When rivals meet, anything can happen, and last season is a perfect example. Woodrow won an offensive shootout in Beckley 42-39 a year ago. Just when it looked like the Spartans were going to pull the upset, something happened that allowed the Eagles to end the contest in the win column. Expect more crazy chaos on Friday.

ABOUT THE EAGLES:

Beckley lost some key pieces from their team a season ago. Elijah Redfern, who scored three TDs in that high-scoring thriller, is gone and last year’s starting quarterback, Devin Richardson, is now suited up for Oak Hill. But head coach Street Sarrett still believes in his team as a playoff team.

And that’s because they are already in.

Beckley stayed in Class AAAA through all the reclassification that happened from last season all the way up until mid-August of this year. With the movement of schools, it left only 16 teams in the AAAA division, the exact number of teams that qualify for the postseason. So, technically, the entire regular season is a playoff tune-up for the larger schools in the state. Will the Eagles bring that intensity into Spartan Stadium this Friday night?

–Players to Watch—

Beckley: Konnor Ray (7 rushes, 93 yards), MJ Staples, AJ Thomas (2 int last week), Jacob Reeves (7-yd TD run last week), Bryce Ford, and Christian Stewart

Greenbrier East : Brody Hamric (153 yds passing, 3 TDs), Brady May (129 rush yds, rec TD), Nate Suttle (110 all purpose yds, TD), Keshawn Bland, Brayden Brown, and Grant Burdette

Top 3 Keys to the Game:

East red zone offense vs. Beckley defense

Brady May running vs. Woodrow’s linebackers

East defense vs. Konnor Ray and the Eagle rushing attack

Summary:

In last week’s win, Beckley stuffed Washington in the red zone as the Patriots ran 20 plays in that area of the field and scored just three points. Those numbers are eerily similar to the Spartans’ lack of success there in their victory over Riverside. Something will have to give on one side. Whichever team comes out on top in that stat may very well win this game.

Last season, after East had trimmed a 21-point deficit to just eight points at halftime, they allowed a kick return touchdown to Staples to begin the second half, the second return TD of the game for the Eagles at that point. Special teams’ execution, and miscues for that matter, could play a huge role in this one yet again.

The Spartans have a golden opportunity to create a little buzz around the county with a victory over their rivals. A win could get them to 2-0 and the conversation of how this season will play out suddenly will shift in a whole new direction. Can the Spartans seize this opportunity or will the Eagles roll into Fairlea with the confidence needed to steal a road victory.

Tune in Friday night to find out.

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