The Greenville Christian Saints (4-5) football team finished its regular season on a winning note as they beat the Glenbrook Apaches 55-13 in a nonconference game Thursday night. Glenbrook falls to 6-3.
Greenville Christian got back to a physical style of football early in the second quarter behind the running of sophomore running back Marlon Palmer, who had a touchdown run of 30 yards as he stiff armed a Glenbrook defensive back on his way to the end zone. The extra point failed, and Greenville Christian retook the lead 14-13 with 11:10 remaining in the second quarter.
Palmer did it all in the second quarter. On defense, he caught an interception on a deflected pass. And on the ensuing play for the Saints offense, Palmer plowed through Apache defenders on his way to a 25-yard touchdown run. The extra point failed, and Greenville Christian led 20-13 with 3:30 remaining in the first half.
“We have some talented receivers and teams like to play us in coverage defenses,” said Saints head coach Jon Reed McClendon “But we absolutely must run the ball to be successful. Everything that we do offensively revolves around our ability to run the ball.”
Scoring on their first three possession of the third quarter, the Saints put a strangle hold on the game from that point. After another Palmer touchdown run, the Saints scored on a touchdown pass and an Antonio Moore touchdown run to take a 49-13 lead to close the third quarter. The Saints added one final scoring pass midway through the fourth to make the final margin 55-13.
The Saints offense went to work through the air to close the first half. Senior quarterback Marcus Anderson found receiver Will Riley in the back of the end zone on a 33-yard scoring pass in the final minute of the first half. The two-point conversion put the Saints comfortably ahead 28-13 heading into the half.
Apaches junior quarterback Jackson Powell opened the scoring with 55-yard touchdown to senior receiver Sammie Feaster who simply outran the defense on a go route as he blazed his way to the end zone. The extra point was good, and Glenbrook led 7-0 with 8:13 remaining in the first quarter.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Saints had a touchdown run called back for a holding penalty and eventually turned the ball over on a fumble to the Glenwood defense.
After being stagnant on offense with the running game, the Saints responded late in the first quarter by going to the air. Senior quarterback Lawson Stokes lobbed a pass to senior receiver Mike Mohead and 65 yards later, the home team had its first points of the game. The two conversion was good, and the Saints led 8-7 with 2:15 remaining in the first quarter. The score stood until the end of the first quarter.
After driving down the field at the end of the first quarter, Glenbrook scored on the first play of the second quarter on a seven-yard touchdown pass from Powell to freshman receiver Ty Feaster. The two-point conversion failed, and the Apaches led 13-8 with 11:52 remaining in the second quarter.
“They’re ability to score early had more to do with us than them,” McClendon said. “We had to settle down a little bit and maintain our assignments. We’ll need to play the same type of defense come playoff time.”
Greenville Christian’s playoff fate had not been determined by press time.
