Tigers Mini-Mites participate in playoffs
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, November 14, 2001
The Greenville Tiger Mini-Mites, Termites and Pee Wee football teams all participated in the Bi-County Football League Playoffs October 27 in McKenzie. The Mini-Mites and Pee-Wees advanced to the second round before bowing out, while the Termites went down in the first round despite an excellent performance.
The Greenville and Georgiana Mini-Mites opened up the morning's action in their third meeting of the year. The Tigers completed a clean sweep of the season series with their 20-6 victory.
Greenville led at the half 14-0 courtesy of long touchdown runs of 75 yards by Jay Johnson and 72 yards by Jamall Hamilton. Georgiana scored their lone touchdown early in the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to 14-6, but Johnson cemented the victory with a 28-yard touchdown run with 1:23 remaining in the game.
Offensively, Johnson led the Tigers with 123 rushing yards on five attempts. He also completed two of five passes for nine yards. Jamall Hamilton was another standout with 90 rushing yards on only two attempts and 1 pass reception of seven yards. Michael Watts contributed 37 rushing yards.
Nicholas Robinson and Daryl Starks shared top defensive honors with Robinson posting two solo tackles and five assists and Starks stacking up three of each. Both also had key fumble recoveries for the Tigers. Other defensive standouts included Johnson, Demario Jones, Rush Nimmer and Fernandez Grey.
The Greenville Tiger Termites rebounded twice from two touchdown deficits to pull themselves back into the ballgame before succumbing 22-14 to McKenzie.
McKenzie jumped to a 16-0 lead early in the second quarter and carried that advantage to halftime. After the intermission the Tigers cut the lead to 1 touchdown on a three-yard run by Jeremy Fields. After a two-yard pass from Colt Blackburn to Tyrell West on the conversion, the score was 16-8.
McKenzie came back early in the fourth quarter to score on a 1-yard run and extend their lead to 22-8. Again, Greenville came back to score on a three-yard touchdown run by Brett Boutwell with only 49 seconds remaining in the game. Miraculously, Greenville regained the football and drove inside the McKenzie 40-yard-line only to see time run out.
Tyrell West led the Greenville offense with 51 rushing yards on nine attempts, one pass reception of two yards and 43 passing yards on 2-5 passing. Other standouts included Jeremy Fields with 56 rushing and 28 receiving yards, Colt Blackburn with 20 passing yards on 2-3 passing and seven rushing yards, Brett Boutwell with 28 rushing yards, Keilo Riley with 21 rushing yards and QuinDarrious Adams with six rushing and 33 receiving yards.
West also led the Greenville defense with four solo tackles and nine assists. Other defenders with stellar performances included Kenneth Carter, Kamal Simmons, Trey Branum, Keilo Riley, Joseph Sipper and Jeremy Fields.
In the rubber match of their three-game series, the Greenville Pee Wee football team broke open a tight defensive struggle with a 38-yard Ramethius Kemp touchdown run early in the fourth quarter and held on for the 6-0 victory.
Offensively, Kemp carried the load for the Tigers with 93 rushing yards on 15 attempts. Danny Spann, Boo Smith and Christian Williams also contributed to the Greenville effort. It was a team effort for the defense with over half a dozen Tigers composing three or more tackles. These included Henry Lee Adams, Lee Miller, Jeremy Robinson, Boo Smith, Alex Tindal, LaMarkas Moorer, Paul Hendrix, Danny Spann and Akeem Thompson.
In round two, the obviously fatigued Tigers gave up three first quarter touchdowns as McKenzie advanced to the league championship with a 26-0 victory.
Offensively, the Tigers were never able to sustain any momentum against the fierce McKenzie defenders.
Defensively, LaMarkas Moorer and Danny Spann led the Tigers with Moorer compiling three solo tackles, while Spann had one solo and three assists. Other standouts included Marcus Rudolph, Jeremy Robinson, Henry Lee Adams, Paul Hendrix, Alex Bowden and Akeem Thompson.
Greenville YMCA football is a part of the Bi-County Football League and is sponsored by Sells Collision Center, Camellia Auto Parts, L.V. Stabler Memorial Hospital and Gregory Construction Company.