Greenville working on 3-0 start
Published 12:00 am Thursday, September 14, 2006
When Greenville head coach Bryant Vincent came to Greenville, he brought with him a slogan for this year's team: Bring it back.
Vincent said he intended to bring back the tradition, bring back the intensity and, most importantly, bring back the winning that made Greenville state champions in the past.
Although the season is young, that is exactly what he has done.
After a one-win season last year, the Tigers are now 2-0, including wins against cross-county rival Georgiana and region foe Booker T. Washington, going into this week's game against the Rehobeth Rebels.
Coaches in the past at Greenville have had to deal with keeping their players' heads up and now Vincent is making sure he keeps his players focused.
“We're trying to iron out a lot of wrinkles,” Vincent said. “We've got to put a complete football team on the field and focus on being a complete football team in all phases.”
In recent years, Greenville has been the hunted. The recent wins are making the Tigers the hunter.
“I'm telling our players it is going to get tougher every week,” Vincent said.
Rehobeth is 0-2 and is coming off a 41-0 trouncing at the hands of No. 5 Eufaula but Vincent said the Rebels have both a great offensive and defensive line and the Tigers must be focused on the task at hand.
“We are going to have to use our speed because our advantage is our speed,” Vincent said.
On the offensive side of the ball, the Tigers found their running game last week, with Brandon Cheatham rushing for 167 yards, and Vincent said a balanced offense is his goal.
“Our goal at the beginning of the year was to get better at our running game,” Vincent said, “and Coach (Mathew) Wells, our offensive line coach, and Coach Chase Smith, our running backs coach, have done a great job making that happen.”
A win for the Tigers Friday night would make next week's showdown with No. 5 Eufaula a huge, undefeated match up at Tiger Stadium.
“(Starting off 3-0) would just be huge,” Vincent said. “It's not even something we thought about the beginning of the year.”
Kickoff for Friday night's game at Rehobeth is scheduled for 7 p.m.