Coming off a home loss to county rival Pickens, which stretched the Easley’s streak of futility to 22 games, the Green Wave now travels to Eastside to face the 3-0 Eastside Eagles.
Making matters worse, the Easley defense will once again be challenged by a high-scoring team.
The Eagles are averaging 40 points a game, although the Eastside defense is averaging giving up 33 points a game.
Last week Pickens came into Brice Field averaging 55.5 points per game. Easley held the Blue Flame to 37 points, but that was not enough for a Green Wave victory.
For Eastside, it pretty much starts and ends offensively with quarterback Drake Thomason. Thomason has passed for 801 yards and nine touchdowns so far this season. He is also the team’s leading rusher with 176 yards on 34 carries, averaging just over five yards a carry.
Last year Easley fell to Eastside 31-29 when the Eagles kicked the winning field goal in th egmae final minute.
Aaron Duncan set a new Easley High School mark by rushing for 297 yards in that game.
While Duncan is gone from the Green Wave roster, Malcolm Arnold looks to be his successor. Arnold has run for 147 yards in Easley’s pass-oriented offense for the first three games.
Zach Lappin is back for his sophomore year and is averaging 125 yards in passing for the Green Wave. His favorite targets so far have been Austin Helms, Nick Saccogna and Trevlin Franklin.
Easley faces Region 1-AAAA rival Wren next Friday. Eastside will host Greer
Pickens vs. Travelers Rest
Last season Pickens routed Travelers Rest 35-0. Travelers Rest comes into tonight’s game against Pickens winless, but the Devildogs do seem to have a better chance of putting points on the board against the Blue Flame this year.
The Devildogs have scored 55 points in three games this year, better then some entire previous seasons.
Still Travelers Rest will need better offensive output if they are going to upset the Blue Flame, who come into the game overaging 49 points a game.
Travelers Rest is led by quarterback Barron Morgan, and his favorite target, Burton Harbin. The tandem of Jeremy Spann and E.J. Hunt handle most of the running duties.
Pickens is led by quarterback James Lawson, who has already passed for six touchdowns despite spending time on the bench when each of the Blue Flame’s first three games got out of hand. Lawson was also named a semi-finalist for the National Merit Scholarship last week.
Lawson’s favorite target seems to be Michael Johnson, who has scored three of Lawson’s six touchdown passes. Johnson has caught passes for a total of almost 200 yards so far shis
Jordan Freeman leads the Blue Flame in rushing with 446 yards in just three games. Freeman is on schedule to break the 1,000 yard mark for the season.
Pickens travels to Berea next week. Travelers Rest hosts Walhalla.
Liberty hosts West-Oak
The Red Devils will try to get their first notch in the win column Friday night as they host former Skyline AA opponent West-Oak.
The Warriors have now moved up to the tough Western AAA conference.
West-Oak is coming off close losses to two of Liberty’s Skyine AA rivals — 17-14 to Pendleton and 12-7 to Walhalla. The Warriors opened the season with a 40-13 win over Landrum, the single A school Liberty will travel to face next Friday.
Against the Razorbacks last week in the annual Apple Bowl matchup, West-Oak lost on a 50-yard touchdown pass by Walhalla in the final 11 seconds of the game.
After scoring a total of 20 points in its first two games of the 2009 season, Liberty burst loose with 41 points against Carolina last Friday. Unfortunately, the Trojans came up with 47 points in the triple overtime game and defeated the Red Devils.
Defense seems to be the prime weakness for the Red Devils, who have given up 160 points in just three games.
Offensively, Liberty remains a running team, with the Red Devils gaining 28 of their 39 first downs this season on the ground, and just five through the air (six were made due to penalties).
Philip Rainwater leads the Red Devils, averaging 9.2 yards a carry so far this season.
Liberty plays at Landrum next Friday. West-Oak hosts Crescent.
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