No. 4 Greer spreads the wealth during its drive to 8-0

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Julie McCombs

Adrian McGee rushed for 130 yards and 3 TDs.

 

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Julie McCombs

Greer's defense puts a lot of effort into stopping offenses.

 

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Scott Stevens

Adrian McGee dives into the end zone for one of his three TDs. Chapman players are left in his wake.

 

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Julie McCombs

Hakeem Hoke tries to remove himself from a Chapman player.

 

Seemingly every season, Greer football has its go-to guy -- players with big-play abilities and, regardless of stature, shoulders big enough to carry a team.

The list is long: From the leather-helmet days of June Pruitt to Steve Woodward to Arthur Sitton, Quez Nesbitt and Reese Hannon.

But this season, which has the Yellow Jackets ranked No. 4 in Class AAA and unbeaten after Friday night's 47-10 win over region foe Chapman at Dooley Field, is different.

There is not one go-to player. Instead, the identity of the go-to guy can change from game to game or even series to series on offense, and a physical, athletic defense produces different standouts just about every week.

Against Chapman, four different players scored touchdowns for the Yellow Jackets' offense. On defense, four different players recorded quarterback sacks as Greer harassed Chapman's Landon Collins and Colton Bailey all night. Troy Pride and Tyler Wright also recorded interceptions.

"After you lose a guy like Quez (Nesbitt, a 2013 graduate) -- it's hard not to be one-dimensional when you have somebody like that," said offensive lineman Noah Hannon, who helped pave the way many of Nesbitt's more than 2,000 yards last season. "But this year (QB Mario Cusano) has done a good job distributing to the receivers, and we've done a good job up front blocking for (RB Adrian McGee). We have more than one option this year."

In addition to Cusano passing for more than 1,250 yards and 17 touchdowns, McGee's 150-yard performance against Chapman, which also included three rushing touchdowns, left him just 9 yards short of 1,000 for the season.

Cusano's favorite target this season has been Dorian Lindsey, who caught a 70-yard touchdown pass but was also featured heavily as a rusher in the Yellow Jackets' wildcat formation and gained 82 yards on the ground.

"Being able to spread it out to multiple people for probably the first time," said Greer Head Coach Will Young. "There isn't a single wide receiver we have out there that we don't trust."

Young said it became apparent early on in the offseason that this team would count on its depth of talent rather than a single player as in seasons' past.

"We looked at that and had a lot of meetings and discussions about it," Young said. "We looked at our personnel, and our coaches did a good job installing a system and our kids have done an excellent job of executing it."

The result has been an 8-0 start -- Greer's best since its 1994 state championship season - and the inside track at another Region 2-AAA championship with Southside and Blue Ridge remaining on the schedule.

"We've got a lot of big-time players who come out here and play hard," Cusano said. "So far, it's been real good."

 • Statistics by Red Watson

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