From Greenbrier, Arkansas> 
Greenbrier's Trent "Sticky Fingers" Virden gets top vote for player of the game honors, as he caught 7 passes for 173 yards with two touchdowns. Trent was also stellar on the defensive side of the ball, recording 4 tackles for losses, as the Greenbrier Panthers handily dumped the Harrison Goblins in their 5A West conference opener by a final score of 35-7 in front of the usual overflow Panther home crowd.

D1 bound quarterback, Neal Burcham, threw for two touchdowns with no interceptions on the night. The Goblin defense continually pressured "Cape Canaveral" Burcham, flushing him from the pocket and forcing him to scramble time and time again, but still the Goblins only managed one sack of Burcham on the night. Burcham threw for 256 yards on only 15 of 40 passing, but the Greenbrier receiving corps flat dropped 11 passes, including three consecutive drops in the end zone to end the first half stalled at the 15 yard line of Harrison. Coach Randy Tribble was obviously upset with his receivers on the sideline, as he was in their faces plenty and often.

Greenbrier took a 21-0 half-time lead into the locker room with the aid of a Reid "Scoop and Scoot" Cone fumble recovery that he returned 35 yards for a touchdown. Jesse "Wide Open" May added a 17 yard first half touchdown reception.

In the second half, Greenbrier unleashed Hunter "Alien vs. Predator" Winston, and he punished the tiring Goblins with touchdown runs of 18 and 54 yards. Winston caught 4 passes for 76 yards, and rushed the ball 10 times for 128 yards on the night.

Scott "Thunderfoot" Cavin had another good night punting and kicking off, as he filled in again for the injured Seth Peters. Last week against Benton, after Peters was injured early in the game, Cavin came in cold-footed and wound up ranking second overall in the state in average yards per punt for the week. Cavin also caught a drive extending, 25 yard rocket propelled 4th down pass from Cape Canaveral that set up a Greenbrier touchdown from the Goblin 17 yard line.

A game ball has to go to the entire defense, as they held the Harrison offensive attack at bay all night long. Harrison's only score came after a pass interference call on a fourth down play. The penalty flag came on a ball that was badly overthrown and uncatchable, and the partisan Panther home crowd loudly voiced their dismay with the flag. The penalty set the Goblins up at the Panther 5 yard line, and three plays later the Goblin's put it in the end zone.

Greenbrier is looking every bit the favorite to win the 5A West that they were picked to be in the preseason. Tonight, it was complete domination by the mighty mighty Panthers.

Dr. SwineSmeller