Easley Assistant Coach Brian Strickland goes over the offensive plays during the game last week with Pickens. Strickland serves as the O-Line Coach. (Photo by Mark Beery for The Progress).
(Please note: Because of the Labor Day weekend, we had an early deadline for the printing of The Easley Progress. The game results for last Friday night’s football will be in next week’s edition).
EASLEY — At press time, the Easley High School football team is riding high after their 56-34 win over rival Pickens.
However, they have to continue that momentum and build on that when they travel to play at Wren on Friday night. A talented Wren team steamrolled past Palmetto 43-0 in their first game of the season.
“They (Wren) are a very physical football team,” said EHS coach Sam Houston. “Defensively, you don’t see it too much and they get in that 3-3 stack and TL Hanna does it. They are really aggressive defensively, especially up front. They will be tough to block. Our offensive line has a challenge this week with the run game and the passing game, and picking up the pressures.”
Continued Coach Houston, “Their offensive line is massive. I told our guys they are going to be bigger than us up front, but we have to attack them. All of them seem like they are 6-6 … I don’t know if they are.”
One big boost, though, for the Green Wave will be the return of lineman Stone Turner after an injury last season.
Going into this game, it should be interesting to see a couple of things.
Can Easley jump out to an early lead and try to gain some momentum?
Will Jo Jo Coleman be able to scramble for some extra yards on some play-action plays? That would be huge for this Green Wave offense!
The special teams will be a huge key to the game – preventing that big play for Wren.
How will Easley be able to contain the high-powered offense of Wren?
Ending thought: This would be a big “statement win” if Easley is able to pull this out. It is a good opponent in Wren on the road. It’s one of those games on Saturday morning – when they are sitting around the coffee shop or a local diner – the big conversation is if everyone heard about Easley defeating Wren. It’s gonna be a tough match-up and like they say, “That’s why we play the game.”
“It was not what we wanted. A good play-call by them (Pickens) – we did not expect that the first play of the game. Our guys were a little emotional and amped up to go. They did something that we all reacted a certain way. The best player on the field took it 70 on us.”
Reach Jeff Holt at 864-855-0355.