By Drew Terhall

Dailyadvocate.com

GREENVILLE — The Greenville football team took advantage of their last scrimmage of the season as they won 38-8 over Belmont at home on August 15.

Head coach Sean Ford said he was pleased with how the team performed and thought they needed this type of game. With everything being new to the team, a win in a game setting helps boosts the team’s confidence.

“We needed to put some points and get some confidence as a program, especially in this new system,” Ford said. “But, we got a long way to go to get ready for Thursday. We’re going to work our tails off for the next week because it’s real.”

The Green Wave jumped on Belmont from the start. Sophomore Gage Denham had an interception to help set up Greenville within five yards of the endzone. Junior Aiden Manix was the starting quarterback and scored the game’s first touchdown on a QB sneak to go up 6-0.

Junior Gabe Rammel and Denham both scored rushing touchdowns in the first quarter to put Greenville up 20-0. Junior Lukas Thorp set up Denham’s touchdown run with an interception.

Manix showed off his arm in the second quarter with a 21-yard touchdown pass to junior John Barr. Sophomore Michael Fox scored with just over a minute left in the first half from about a yard out to give Greenville a 32-0 lead at halftime.

The defense kept getting stop after stop. Ford said the defense was flying around from the start as they held Belmont scoreless in the first half.

“They were pursuing to the football. They were making tackles. They were getting 11 guys to the ball. I was very impressed by them,” Ford said. “Moving forward, we got to make sure we’re doing the little things right. Sometimes in these games, you can get away with doing things wrong.”

Greenville drained the clock in the third and final quarter of the scrimmage for the first string players. Rammel capped off the drive with his second rushing touchdown of the game.

On the last play of the third quarter, Belmont scored on a passing touchdown and got the two-point conversion to make it a 38-8 game.

The younger players got ten plays of offense after the varsity first string was done. Freshman Grady Looker found junior Ryan Dixon for a long touchdown pass during the ten plays.

It was the players’ last chance before the first game of the season to grab a starting spot. Ford said the core is set, but they are still continuing to develop as many guys on the team to improve their depth and try to give some guys more playing times.

“At some point, we got a lot of guys going both ways. We’re going to have to look around and see where guys can fit in and make sure there is no drop off to get guys breathers,” Ford said. “Everything is under competition. That breeds success is when you increase the competition level.”

The season will officially begin for the Green Wave on August 22 as they take on Eaton at Eaton for some Thursday Night Football. Ford said Eaton will be a very disciplined team as they need to be at their best heading into this matchup.

The game is set for a 7 p.m. kickoff.

Contact Daily Advocate sports editor Drew Terhall at [email protected].