GREENVILLE – The Charles Henderson Trojans had no answer to the Greenville Tigers rushing game on Friday.

The Tigers chewed up 258 yards on the ground and held CHHS to zero first downs in the first two quarters of play in a 28-7 win at Tiger Stadium.

Greenville’s strategy was simple.

Spread the field.

And pound the football up the middle.

The Tigers opened the game with an 11-play, 65-yard drive that culminated in an 8-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Ryan Smith to wide receiver Deangelo Carter. Smith rolled left and threw a strike to Carter who cut inside the Trojans’ defender for the 7-0 lead with 6:10 remaining in the first quarter.

It was the lone pass of the drive and would likely not have occurred had a penalty not forced the Tigers into a third and eight situation at the goaline. Up until that point, Blackmon had been content to feed the Trojans a steady diet of runs by Smith and Cordez Peagler.

“We thought we had the advantage upfront, size-wise,” said Blackmon. “They had good speed on the outside, but after watching them on film we felt we could attack them running downhill.

CHHS head football coach Hugh Fountain agreed. “They just lined up and whipped our butts,” said Fountain. “They physically beat us. We didn’t look like a tough team out there tonight. We didn’t play our game and we didn’t overcome adversity in the first half. That hurt us.” A 52-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Mikwese Claybourne was wiped out because of an illegal procedure penalty, but it didn’t matter: the Tigers scored again on the same possession, as Smith led the team on a 61-yard, 11-play drive that ended with his nine-yard touchdown run. A 15-yard Fernandez Grey carry late in the second quarter, set up Smith’s next touchdown run as the senior quarterback pounded the ball in from the four-yard-line.

Charles Henderson was able get on the scoreboard in the fourth quarter as quarterback K.D. Edenfield found Jawara White for a 31-yard gain to the Tigers two-yard line. Edenfield scored from there, cutting the Tigers lead to 21-7.

Back came the Tigers, with Peagler slicing in for a 14-yard touchdown run with 2:46 left in the game.

“We had some life in the second half, but were never able to get any momentum going,” said Fountain. “We’ve just got to get better as a football team.”