Never in doubt: Tigers roll Talladega, 53-7
Published 1:08 am Saturday, October 10, 2009
With a week-long celebration leading up to it, Greenville’s game against Talladega was almost anti-climactic as the home-standing Tigers rolled 53-7.
“This was a good win for us, and I’m glad we didn’t let have a letdown with all the activities and things that go along with homecoming,” said head coach Ben Blackmon. “We had a great crowd, and they stuck around through all the rain.”
From the start, the Tigers’ defense locked Talladega down, giving the GHS offense a short field.
Cordez Peagler put the first touchdown of the game on the board with a three-yard run four minutes into the game.
Two minutes and five seconds later, Peagler added another touchdown run to make it a two-touchdown lead.
On Talladega’s first two punts, Greenville’s special teams had come close to blocking the kick, and they finally got one on the third punt of the night, giving the Tigers a safety.
Before the first quarter was over, the Tigers would score on touchdown passes from Ryan Smith to Mikwese Claybourne and Darius Watson.
Marcus Peters also got his hands on Talladega’s quarterback, forcing an intentional grounding from the endzone that put two points on the board for Greenville.
Another defensive highlight came in the second quarter when Kenneth Carter picked off a screen pass and rumbled 39 yards for a touchdown to make the lead 39-0.
Peagler added a 31-yard touchdown run and Kent Riley broke a 50-yarder to put it at 53-0 at halftime.
Talladega put a drive together in the third and scored on the last play of the quarter to avoid the shutout.
With all the homecoming festivities behind them, the Tigers are now looking forward to next week’s showdown with Demopolis, which will be for the region championship.
“We didn’t have any injuries tonight, so hopefully we’ll be as healthy as possible going into the Demopolis game,” Blackmon said. “That’s going to be a big one, and we need everyone in Greenville here.”