Charleston pulls away from Greenland

GREENLAND -- It was a second half that soon won't be forgotten by Charleston coach Ricky May and the Tigers on Friday night at Jonathan Ramey Memorial Field.

The Tigers held just a one-point halftime lead. But Charleston broke open the close game and rolled in the second half with a surge on offense and even a score on defense to pull away for a 48-18 victory against Greenland in a Class 3A-1 Conference matchup.

"We turned the ball over a couple times in the first half again," May said. "That has been killing us. We knew if we could clean that up, we had a chance. The defense came out fired up and the offense just kept churning. The offensive line did an awesome job blocking. I'm really proud of these kids."

The Tigers were led by sophomore quarterback Brandon Scott. He completed 7 of 11 passes for 128 yards and two touchdowns. He rushed 16 times for 123 yards and another score.

Three Ketters were able to find the end zone for Charleston as well. Breckon Ketter rushed seven times for 53 yards and two scores. He also had a defensive touchdown as well. Brevyn Ketter added 46 yards on seven carries with a touchdown. Bryton Ketter had two catches for 44 yards, including a touchdown.

"They call them the Ketter mafia, and there are a bunch of them," May said with a laugh. "We are really excited to have them. They play 100 mph and they bring it every day, not just on game night. Their dad is a pretty cool guy, too."

Greenland (2-2, 0-1) was guided by running back Jett Dennis, who finished with 27 carries for 196 yards and a touchdown. He had 15 carries for 159 yards in the first half. Quarterback Gabe Wilson rushed for 53 yards on seven carries with a score.

Charleston (2-2, 1-0) forced a three-and-out punt from Greenland to open the third quarter and didn't look back after that. The Tigers scored touchdowns on their next five possession to put the game well out of reach.

"We didn't come out and play in the second half," Greenland coach Lee Larkan said. "We didn't really come out to play in the first half either. I did a poor job, and Charleston took it to us. They aren't that much better than us. They are better, but we could've kept it closer. The conference race is for second now. I don't think anybody will catch them."

Scott got the offense going with the first score of the second half. He tossed a fourth-down touchdown pass to Kaleb Hamby to make it a 20-12 lead in the third quarter.

Greenland was able to answer that drive with a score of its own. Quarterback Gabe Wilson rushed for a 29-yard touchdown to cut the Charleston lead to 20-18 after a failed two-point play.

However, that would be the last time Greenland would be able to find the end zone, as Charleston took over from that point in the game.

Scott found Bryton Ketter for a 32-yard touchdown pass to push the edge out to 27-18 with about three minutes left in the third quarter.

Scott got the fourth-quarter scoring going again for the Tigers in the final quarter. This time he rushed for a 21-yard touchdown to make it a 34-18 advantage.

Breckon Ketter was able to close out the scoring with a touchdown on offense and defense for Charleston. He rushed for a 6-yard touchdown and had a fumble return for a 90-yard touchdown.

Garrett Rudd had two second-half interceptions that were turned into 14 points for Charleston.

"We told the kids coming into the week that we played a tough non-conference to get ready for this," May said. "We felt like it got us ready for tonight. We had young kids playing early and have matured for us. We are excited to be where we are at right now. We have to keep getting better. We are glad to be 1-0."

Four downs

• Charleston now leads the series 2-1 in the last three seasons since both programs have recently been in the same conference.

• Levi Sipes was able to recover a fumble for Greenland on just the second offensive play of the game.

• The teams combined to fumble the ball eight times but turned the ball over via the fumble just one time each.

• Class 3A-1 Conference play is scheduled to continue next week for both programs. Greenland travels to Mansfield, while Charleston hosts Cedarville.