By Mark Robinson
During the middle of the week, Greenbrier East’s head football Coach Ray Lee spoke about the game against Preston High School, and looked forward to the game against Musselman. About the game against Preston High School, Lee said, “It was a good, hard-fought, tough football game. Preston is a scrappy team. They fought the whole game. There were times the game was close. The teams were closer in talent and ability than the score indicated. They had good sized linemen, good skill people, running backs. The quarterback was good, an elusive kind of guy. We tried to see how to corral him.”
East scored most of their points in the second half to pull away from the stubborn Knights, winning 33-7. The biggest play of the game was a lateral from quarterback Hunter Weis to another quarterback, Devin Persinger. Persinger flung the ball down the field to wide receiver Brad Falls, who took it to the house. The crowd went wild. Lee said, “It covered about 71 yards – a good play – things that we looked at on film, and figure out some things that will benefit you.”
Coaches always make adjustments at halftime; Lee is no exception to that rule: “We tweaked a few blocking assignments. We were, I don’t want to say confused, but we went in, look at how they’re lining up. Get on the board, draw up our formations and ask where people are playing, and then adjust from there, see what plays we can run.”
Lee always comes back to attitude and enthusiasm, and he did not disappoint this week. “Our players’ attitudes are what impress. You know, they come out every day, work hard, have the will to win, by working hard and having the will to win, they expect to win. That’s the attitude we’re trying to build in the program. It’s the winning attitude, not just in football, but in everything in general. Whatever you set out to do, have a winning attitude.”
Musselman High School, the next opponent, is located in West Virginia’s eastern panhandle.
“They’re a good football team, we’re sharing the same record (2-1),” Lee said. “They’ve scored a lot of points, even in their one loss. We have to play mistake-free football, hard-nosed football, have a no-quit attitude. It’s a tough place to play, the crowd gets into it, real close to the field. . . They have a good quarterback, they call him a running back. Number 4 is a tough kid. A good wide receiver. #12 and # 4 share the quarterback spot. #44 is pretty tough. They have a huge offensive line, one guy in excess of 300 lbs., he doesn’t move too bad to be 300 lbs. A couple of linemen who run 280, 260. It’s an AAA school.”
And finally, to give credit where credit is due: “We have some good coaches, Kevin Baker, Jerry Long, Lefty Smith, Jared Sams, Sam Johnson, Arthur Erskine. Our defense, some of the schemes that Coach Johnson and Coach Sams have come up with. They’ve worked well. I like to give credit where credit is due.”
