WHITE HOUSE – Greenbrier High’s football team enjoyed some early success in the first half, but White House-Heritage finished strong in taking a 38-21 victory.
Greenbrier led 21-17 at halftime, but Heritage scored 21 unanswered points, maintaining possession for all but 5:44 of the half, to come away with the 9-AA triumph, keeping the Patriots unbeaten in league play.
“We had a lot of distractions leading into the game tonight, but that’s no excuse because Greenbrier came out and really punched us in the mouth in that first half,” said Heritage coach Pat Brown. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a team have the ball the entire third quarter, but luckily we were able to do that tonight, and I really think that was the turning point in the game.”
Greenbrier coach Kirk Williams agreed, adding, “It’s hard when you go into halftime leading and then don’t see the ball again until the fourth quarter. We had some uncharacteristic silly penalties, but I really think you have to take your hats off to (Heritage) because they did what they had to in order to get the win tonight.”
Greenbrier (4-5, 2-3 9-AA) got the opening kickoff and took it 50 yards on seven plays, the final 27 yards on a ramble by Jacob Waffird.
Heritage (8-1, 5-0) answered on the ensuing possession when Hunter Reyes hit a streaking Branson Kramm for 31 yards, a pass that was first called incomplete, but after referees got together they reversed the ruling and credited the Patriots with a touchdown.
The extra point was missed, leaving them trailing by one.
The Bobcats only needed three plays to get back into the end zone as Paul Gonser broke free for a 68-yard touchdown to give them a 14-6 lead.
The Greenbrier defense forced a three-and-out and then the offense went back to work, going 67 yards on eight plays, the last a reverse to Waffird for 18 yards that gave the Bobcats a 21-6 advantage.
Heritage answered with a 72-yard, eight-play series capped by a Reyes-to-Kramm pass, this time from 37 yards to cut the lead to 21-14.
Trent Burian added a 36-yard field goal as time expired in the half to make it 21-17.
Heritage got the ball to start the second half and kept it the entire quarter, scoring three seconds into the fourth quarter on a 2-yard dive by J.T. Smith to give the Patriots their first lead of the night, 24-21.
Greenbrier went three-and-out on the ensuing drive, and the Heritage offense went back to work when Thad Baker took it in from 11 yards to make it 31-21 with just over five minutes left.
“We knew what was on the line when we came into the game tonight,” Reyes said. “It took us a little while to get things going, but once we did I thought we did a good job. This was a huge win for us.”
