On a brisk night perfect for high school football, the Greenville High Hornets lost a physical 42-8 contest to the West Point Greenwaves Friday night.
After missing a couple of first half opportunities to blow the game open, West Point sent an emphatic message on its opening possession of the second half driving the length of the field and scoring on running back Keyshawn Henley’s third touchdown of the night to give the visitors a 35-0 early third quarter lead.
Greenville High responded with a touchdown pass over the top of the Greenwaves defense for 62 yards from junior quarterback Jeff Davis to senior receiver Xavier Titus. Titus sprinted wide open with nothing but real estate in front of him giving the crowd a quick injection of energy. The two-point conversion closed the Hornets deficit to 35-8 with 7:08 remaining in the third quarter.
The Greenwaves added a late touchdown and extra point to account for the game’s final tally.
West Point’s physicality at the point of attack on both sides of the ball allowed both their rushing game on offense and pass rush on defense to disrupt the Hornets overall game plan.
“This is West Point and they’ll probably end up winning the state in football and power lifting,” said Hornets head coach Quintarus McCray. “We’re in a new division now and have got to get back to the basics like the weight room. It’s like we’ve gone from the SEC West to the SEC East with the level of competition that we play.”
After jumping out to a 21-0 lead early in the second quarter, the Greenwaves received the Hornets first real offensive threat of the game. Greenville High senior Jadarian Webb broke a big punt return pass midfield down to the West Point 30-yard line with 3:09 remaining until halftime. But the visitor’s defense stiffened and turned the Hornets over on down s even thwarting a fake punt. The Greenwaves took over on offense and marched 64 yards on six rushing plays highlighted by a six yard Henley touchdown run. The extra point extended West Point’s lead to 28-0 heading into halftime.
“We’ve got a couple of athletes and we just need to put it all together,” McCray said. “We were able to move the ball up and down the field early in the game but killed good drives with turnovers.”
Greenville High will travel to Oxford to playLafayette Friday at 7 pm.
