The Steve Wilson era at Eastside High School couldn't have started much better.
The Eagles dealt neighborhood rival Riverside a 25-0 loss Friday night at Wade Hampton High School. The game was moved to the neutral site Thursday when Greenville County administrators ruled Riverside's field unplayable due to turf problems.
Riverside was technically the home team, but the Eastside defense made itself at home, harassing Riverside quarterback Aaron Odom all night, intercepting him three times and scoring two safeties.
"They just played good," Wilson said. "They did the things we coached them to do . . .. A shutout is fantastic. We'll take that any time we can do it."
En route to the shutout, the Eagles held Riverside to 98 yards of total offense and sacked Odom a half-dozen times for losses of a combined 43 yards. Odom connected on 12 of 25 pass attempts for 68 yards.
After a scoreless first quarter, Eastside got on the board with Tyler Brown's sack of Odom in the end zone and a 2-0 lead that was never relinquished.
Chance Pride scored the first of his two touchdowns on a 8-yard run to put the Eagles up 9-0 with 2:42 left in the first half.
Eastside exploded for 16 third-quarter points, including a 47-yard catch-and-run on by Pride on a screen pass from quarterback T.J. Gist.
Pride finished with 84 yards from scrimmage and senior Jovani Lawton led the Eagles' rushing attack with 87 yards on 12 carries.
"I thought in the first quarter, we had a lot of momentum," said Riverside Head Coach Phil Smith. "We were getting some first downs, but when we stall out, from the mental standpoint we started getting down on ourselves. … The mental part of this game, we just didn't overcome."
Riverside (0-1) travels across town to face Greer (1-0) next Friday, while Eastside (1-0) travels to Christ Church.
Scoring summary
1st Downs 12 8
Rushing Yards 35-143 28-30
Passing 11-17-0 12-25-3
Passing Yards 90 68
Fumbles/Lost 0-0 2-0
Punts 7-34.0 4-24.8
Penalties 18-85 7-65
