The Greer Yellow Jackets 2008 season came to a screeching halt Friday night as the Lugoff-Elgin Demons got two 4th quarter touchdowns to win 43-40. Greer led 34-14 with 1:57 to go in the 1st half, and 40-28 late in the 3rd quarter, but the visitors never quit. They scored on a 33 yard touchdown pass from Forrest Koumas to Devonte Alexander with 5:18 to go in the game. The pass appeared to hit the ground as Alexander scooped it up, but the play was ruled a touchdown. Greer then drove to the Demon 24 yard line but another questionable call: a ruled fumble, turned the ball back over. After a great defensive stop the Jackets got the ball at their own 40 with 1:40 to play. The Jackets would move the ball to the Lugoff-Elgin 3 yard line and spike the ball to stop the clock with 16 seconds to go. The Jackets ran their zone read play to the Upstate's leading rusher Dominique Parks, who was stopped just outside the one yard line. With time running out, Greer tried to rush the field goal unit onto the field, but time ran out before they could snap the ball. The loss ends the Greer season at 10-2 and sends Lugoff-Elgin on to face the Daniel Lions next week.

 

Two Dominique Parks TD runs in the 1st quarter gave Greer a 13-0 lead, then a Trent Hudson run for LE made it 13-7. Efferlyn Williams then scored a pair of TD's for Greer to make it 27-7 Jackets early in the 2nd quarter. On their next drive, the Demons got a Koumas to Julian Baxter pass that made the score 27-14, but Greer came right back with a 70 yard drive that saw Parks score from 6 yards to make it 34-14 at the 1:57 mark of the half. The Demons got a huge drive of 64 yards when Koumas ran it in from 3 yards right before intermission to make it 34-21. That was huge because they got the ball to start the 2nd half and cashed in when Phillip Osbourn slipped out of a pile of players, again questionable in that forward progress had been stopped, and raced 65 yards to make it 34-28.

 

Greer scored on a 61 yard drive when Parks went in from the 1. The Jackets went for two, but the pass was dropped, leaving it at 40-28. Then the Demons got within striking distance with a 13 play drive in which they converted two 4th down plays as Koumas scored on an 8 yard run to make it 40-35. After forcing the only Greer punt of the night, the Demons went on their final touchdown drive, capping it with the Alexander catch.

 

Even though the loss is tough to swallow, the Jackets had a wonderful season. They turned around a tough 2007 with the most dominating conference performance in the storied history of Greer football. They rushed the football for over 4000 yards in just 12 games and that Greer Yellow Jacket swagger definitely returned. I guess the tough thing about accepting the loss is you just had a feeling that this was the Jackets year. Yes there was plenty to question from an officiating standpoint but I won't use this forum I have to do that. If you were at the game or listened in on the radio you know there was plenty to question. Even with that, you still had to think that the Jackets were going to take it in and win the game 47-43 at the end. Whatever plays you would have called there at the end might have worked, or maybe they wouldn't have. That zone read was awful good to the Jackets in this 2008 season! You also have to give credit to Lugoff-Elgin for never giving up and making a lot of plays that it took to stay in the game when a lessor team might have looked up at that water tower and given in.

 

The Yellow Jacket Sports Network says a big thank you to Coach Will Young and the rest of the coaching staff for letting us be "insiders" all season, every season. Congratulations to them, the Greer seniors, and the entire team for such an awesome turnaround. I know it hurts now, but you guys accomplished  tremendous things this year. Thank you to the Yellow Jacket fans for making the Greer Yellow Jacket football game experience and support the most exciting that high school football can be. Your passion for your Yellow Jackets is the envy of everyone around. Greer is the best community in the world. We love you!

 

As we turn our eye towards basketball season, watch for "Friday Night Hoops on the Radio" as the Yellow Jacket Sports Network will bring you many Friday night games this winter.