Julie McCombs
Quez Nesbitt turns the corner and heads to the end zone against Blue Ridge Friday night. Nesbitt ran for 265 yards and 2 touchdowns to go over 2,000 yards rushing for the season.
Julie McCombs
Emmanuel Kelly chases down Stephen Turner after the Blue Ridge wide receiver caught a pass.
And that’s where they stayed to earn the No.1 Region II-3A seed for the state playoffs that begin next week. A Seneca at Greer rematch is tentatively set, pending the SCHSL’s playoff meeting Saturday in Columbia to confirm the pairings. Blue Ridge appears to be matched up with Chapin.
Nesbitt rushed for 265 yards, scored three touchdowns – two rushing and one passing – as Greer crushed previously unbeaten Blue Ridge 35-7. The Yellow Jackets defense dominated the high-powered Blue Ridge offense, holding the Tigers to 134 yards total offense on only 36 total offensive plays.
There was no estimate on the crowd but both bleachers on each side of the stadium were full and spectators were 4-5 deep at some places ringing the fence around the field.
Because Greer, Blue Ridge and Greenville finished with the same region record (7-1), the protocol is all three teams to be recognized as co-champions. With Greer winning the complicated points formula it earned the first playoff seed, Blue Ridge the second and Greenville third. Pickens is the fourth team from the Region to earn a playoff spot.
Greer Head Coach Will Young sees the region champion differently. “I see Greer as the region champion. Our team will be wearing the Region championship jackets. If anybody disagrees with that they can come see me,” Young said.
Nesbitt went over 2,000 rushing yards (2,021) so far this season. Quarterback Josh Gentry was superb running the offense, completing 9 of 12 passes for 83 yards and a touchdown. He did not have any interceptions.
“We knew what we needed to do,” Nesbitt said. “I knew coming into the second half I could get a long run.” That touchdown appeared to deflate Blue Ridge’s defense as much as the Jackets’ put the clamps on the Blue Ridge offense.
Gentry was receiving congratulations from a large group of supporters and relishing his team’s accomplishment. “It feels real good to win a region championship. We probably shot ourselves in the foot when we lost to Greenville,” Gentry said. “But we came back and played hard every game.”
Gentry has come into his own taking command of the offense and making it extremely efficient. “I just want to get better every game and push others to get better, too.”
Young said Gentry has been impressive with game management and running the offense. “He played a great game tonight. Josh has played 10 games. He’s seeing things that puts us in a better position to be successful,” Young said.
And Greer’s defense was totally in command throughout. Blue Ridge was held to 55 rushing yards and 79 passing. “We knew exactly what (Blue Ridge) was going to do,” linebacker John Hicks said. “We felt we had them in the second half because the quarterback lost his composure. Our front played great and the secondary was great. “
Young used plenty of variety on offense tonight to wear down Blue Ridge’s defense. He inserted Brook Chapman into the offense to throw more power at Blue Ridge. Chapman ran 16 times for 75 yards and a touchdown. Emmanuel Kelly ran the ball 4 times for 8 yards and a touchdown.
The tentative pairings next Friday have Seneca at Greer, Blue Ridge hosts Lower Richland, Greenville is at Chapin and Pickens vs. A.C. Flora.
Greer had two touchdowns called back by penalty, one a Nesbitt 60-yard run with 8 seconds left in first quarter.
SCORING SUMMARY
|
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
Total |
|
Blue Ridge |
0 |
0 |
7 |
0 |
7 |
|
Greer |
0 |
14 |
14 |
7 |
35 |
Second Quarter
6:00. Greer: Brook Chapman 1 run (Nick Roberson kick). 7-0.
03. Greer: Quez Nesbitt 19 pass from Josh Gentry (Roberson kick). 14-0.
Third Quarter
11:37. Greer. Nesbitt 70 run. (Roberson kick). 21-0.
5:02. Greer. Nesbitt 5 run. (Roberson kick). 28-0.
4:29. Blue Ridge. Mikal Robinson 54 run (John Michael Bright kick) 28-7.
Fourth Quarter
10:06. Greer. Emmanuel Kelly 1 run. (Nick Roberson kick). 35-7.
TEAM STATISTICS
|
|
BLUE RIDGE |
GREER |
|
First downs |
7 |
22 |
|
Rushes / yards (net) |
11/55 |
59/270 |
|
Passing yards (net) |
79 |
83 |
|
Passes – Att./Comp./Int. |
25/12/1 |
13/9/0 |
|
Total offensive plays /yards |
36/134 |
72/453 |
|
Fumble returns / yards |
0/0 |
0/0 |
|
Punt returns / yards |
1/2 |
2/18 |
|
Kickoff returns / yards |
5/55 |
2/8 |
|
Interception returns / yards |
0/0 |
1/50 |
|
Punts / number / average |
8/35.6 |
3/36/7 |
|
Fumbles / lost |
1/0 |
1/1 |
|
Penalties / yards |
2/29 |
11/100 |
|
Possession time |
17:04 |
30:56 |
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING
BLUE RIDGE
|
|
Attempts |
Net |
Touchdowns |
Longest run |
Average |
|
Robinson |
4 |
82 |
1 |
54 |
20.5 |
|
Griffin |
1 |
-4.0 |
1 |
0 |
-4.0 |
|
Montgomery |
6 |
-23 |
0 |
3 |
-3.8 |
GREER
|
|
Attempts |
Net |
Touchdowns |
Longest run |
Average |
|
|
Nesbitt |
24 |
265 |
2 |
70 |
11.0 |
|
|
Chapman |
16 |
75 |
1 |
15 |
11.0 |
|
|
Gentry |
14 |
21 |
0 |
5 |
1.5 |
|
|
Kelly |
4 |
11 |
1 |
8 |
2.8 |
|
PASSING
BLUE RIDGE
|
|
Attempts |
Complete |
Intercepted |
Yards |
TDs |
Longest |
|
Montgomery |
22 |
11 |
1 |
84 |
0 |
6 |
|
Griffin |
12 |
9 |
0 |
-5 |
0 |
0 |
GREER
|
Gentry |
12 |
9 |
0 |
83 |
1 |
19 |
|
Team |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
RECEIVING
BLUE RIDGE
|
|
Number |
Yards |
Touchdowns |
Longest |
|
Robinson |
4 |
-8 |
0 |
0 |
|
Griffin |
3 |
27 |
0 |
26 |
|
Jenkins |
2 |
17 |
0 |
10 |
|
Turner |
2 |
34 |
0 |
20 |
GREER
|
|
Number |
Yards |
Touchdowns |
Longest |
|
Nesbitt |
4 |
45 |
1 |
19 |
|
Kelly |
4 |
30 |
0 |
10 |
|
Lindsay |
1 |
8 |
0 |
8 |
PUNTING
BLUE RIDGE
|
|
Punts |
Yards |
Average |
Touchback |
Inside 20 |
Longest |
|
Knepp |
7 |
238 |
34.0 |
0 |
1 |
56 |
|
Montgomery |
1 |
47 |
47.0 |
1 |
0 |
47 |
|
GREER |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cooke |
3 |
110 |
36.7 |
0 |
1 |
48 |
PUNT RETURNS
BLUE RIDGE
|
|
Returns |
Yards |
TD |
Longest |
|
Jenkins |
1 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
GREER
|
Fleming |
1 |
14 |
0 |
14 |
|
Johnson |
1 |
4 |
0 |
4 |
KICKOFF RETURNS
BLUE RIDGE
|
|
Number |
Yards |
Touchdowns |
Longest |
|
Griffin |
1 |
34 |
0 |
34 |
|
Jenkins |
3 |
21 |
9 |
11 |
|
Smith |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
GREER |
|
|
|
|
|
Fleming |
2 |
8 |
0 |
15 |
|
Total |
|
|
|
|