The 2022 version of the GRC football team took the field for an away contest against rival South Christian on Friday night for the first game of the year. A very young team with only 10 total players returning from last year's varsity roster, the Eagles took their lumps against a very talented, physical, and experienced Sailor squad. The boys in Blue & Black never stopped fighting, but this night belonged to South Christian right from the start.

Offensively the Eagles were paced by a pair of junior tailbacks - Isaiah Caviness and Tayvarie Heard - who each showed flashes of greatness throughout the game. Caviness accounted for the lone GRC score of the game with a beautiful 2nd quarter run of 49 yards by following the path carved out by lead blockers Zach Clark, James Baker, Isaiah Luk, and Luke Selfe. The Eagle air attack was led by senior newcomer Dono' Thames, who traded out his basketball shoes for a pair of cleats before amassing 5 catches in his high school football debut.

The GR Christian defense featured a balanced attack as the quintet of Gabe Armstead, TeQuan Culbreath, Tayvarie Heard, Isaiah Caviness, and Tyree Gamble all tallied more than 4 tackles. The defense forced two takeaways - one through the air compliments of an acrobatic Armstead interception, and a second on the ground when talented freshman JR Jones ripped the ball from the Sailor RB mid-run and started trucking in the opposite direction!

The special teams provided a few bright spots as well. Tyree Gamble broke free for a long kick return to set the Eagle offense up in South Christian territory, and newcomer soccer star Cooper Hutt showed that if you can kick one ball, you can kick any ball in registering 3 excellent punts averaging 49 yards per punt!

The young Eagle squad looks to put Romans 5:3-5 into action as they jump on a steep learning curve and keep working to get better. This week brings another challenge - with a Thursday game providing one less day to prepare for an aggressive and explosive Fruitport team hungry to spoil to Eagle's home opener. Go Eagles!