COURTLAND

Although the Southampton Academy Raiders lost 60-22 to the Greenbrier Christian Gators on Friday at Pillow Field, the game did start out looking promising for the home team. The Raiders on a touchdown run by quarterback Winston Browne took an 8-7 lead in the first quarter and held it until the end of that period. Quickly, things changed and by the end of the half the Gators were ahead 36-16. The Gators, using a mixture of runs and long passes, continued their offensive attacks and scoring for the remainder of the game.

The Raiders’ head coach, Dale Marks, said after the game, “Greenbrier is a good team, I knew it coming in. We saw them on film and we knew they were explosive and throw the ball down the field a lot. When they don’t throw down the field and you have to back off, they throw it in the flat and in the eight-man game if you miss a tackle they are going for a score. We did not have the penalties with the holding, so that was a positive. But, multiple times when I thought we had them bottled up, and then a kid reverses field and when you got good athletes they can do that. I thought we were in good pass coverage a couple times and they make great catches. You got to give credit where credit is due to Greenbrier. They got a big tall quarterback that throws the ball well and good targets to hit on the outside with good speed and good size. I don’t think we had a lack of effort and the kids are not giving up, they keep battling and that is all they can do.”

Southampton Academy goes to Covenant School this Friday, Oct. 4, at 7 p.m.