The GR Christian football team took to the field on Friday night looking to notch their first win in Eagle Stadium of this young season. The Eagles looked athletic and dominant in all phases of the game, earning a 49-19 win over visiting Greenville.

Greenville was able to start the contest by finding a bit of success through the air, which lead to an opening-drive field goal and an early 3-0 lead for the visitors. It was all Eagles from there. Senior phenom Ace Thomas returned the ensuing kick off 56 yards for a touchdown and then ended the next Greenville drive by intercepting a pass and returning it for a touchdown as well. The GRC offense finally got to take the field for the first time with just over two minutes left in the first quarter, with the luxury of a 14-3 lead thanks to the Eagle special teams and defense.

It took only three plays for quarterback Alek Wickstrom to find senior CJ Jones streaking down the seam for a 57-yard touchdown pass. The home team established a 21-3 lead after the first quarter, having only run 3 plays on offense. A long Ace Thomas touchdown reception and a physical CJ Jones TD run increased the lead to 35-6 at halftime. The touchdown catch gave Thomas the elusive football "hat trick" of scoring a touchdown in each phase of the game in the same contest (offense, defense, and special teams).

The second half was the "Buddy Hogan Show" as the senior running back burst through the line for scoring runs of 65 yards and 25 yards in the third quarter. With the "running clock" mercy rule in effect, many Eagles got the opportunity to play in front of an enthusiastic home crowd. Wickstrom finished the day a blistering 9 of 11 passing with 204 yards and 2 touchdowns. Hogan notched his third consecutive game of over 100 rushing yards - toting the rock 11 times for 156 yards and two scores. CJ Jones, Ace Thomas, and Amir Nixon all recorded multiple catches for GR Christian. 

Alec Koval lead the the defensive effort with 6.5 tackles and a quarterback sack to go along with numerous hustle plays. Defenders Jaylin Garcia, TeQuan Culbreath, and Marcus Smith also turned in strong performances. Of note, Garcia sniffed out a screen pass to register his first career interception!

The Block C Boys will look to continue making improvements as the schedule begins to get more difficult again from here; GR Christian hits the road this week to take on the Lowell Red Arrows at 7:30 PM. Go Eagles!