Although the high powered offense of the Greenville Christian Schools Saints has gotten some well deserved accolades this season, it was the defense and special teams that set the tone for their dominant 52-6 win over the Central Holmes Christian Trojans Friday night. The Saints advanced to the MAIS 3A Championship Thursday.
The bone jarring hits from the Saints could be heard throughout the stadium and seemed to break the will of the Trojans who didn’t get a their a first down on offense until the 11:00 minute mark of the final quarter.
“We were very solid defensively and on special teams tonight which enabled to offense to work with a short field most of the night,” said Saints head coach Jon Reed McLendon. “I thought we covered well and kicked it well on a night where the offense wasn’t as sharp as it could’ve been.”
After senior running back Marlon Palmer scored on a fourth and 16 touchdown run the Saints went up 30-0 at the 4:52 mark of the first quarter.
On the ensuing kickoff, Greenville Christian recovered an on side kick and capped the turnover with a 39 yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback DJ Smith to senior wide receiver Christian Bell. The two-point conversion gave the Saints an impressive 38-0 lead and a continuous running of the clock for the remainder of the contest.
Ladarius Davenport scored the Saints final touchdown of the first half as he ran across the formation and took a pitch from Smith for an 11 yard touchdown. The two-point conversion gave the Saints a 46-0 at halftime.
On the second play from scrimmage, Palmer took the ball up the home sideline for a 49-yard touchdown jaunt. The two point conversion made the score 8-0 in favor of the Saints with 11:06 remaining in the first quarter.
On the Trojans ensuing offensive series, Saints defender Trey Rhodes recovered a fumble setting the GCS offense up at the visitor’s 12 yard line.
It took the Saints converting on fourth down to account for their next score as quarterback DJ Smith ran it in from seven yards out. The two point conversion failed and the Saints led 14-0 with 9:30 remaining in the first quarter.
Smith did the honors again from 35 yards out as he shook Trojans defenders on his way to pay dirt. The two point conversion extended the lead to 22-0 with 5:30 remaining in the first quarter.
Bell scored a 30 yard touchdown on a pick six made the score 52-0 at the 4:58 mark of the third quarter. The Trojans lone touchdown came at the 3:41 mark of the fourth quarter when quarterback John Ward hit Eric Jones on a five yard scoring pass. The two point conversion failed.
