A Nice Little Breeze: Greer backup QB leads Jackets to gritty, injury-riddled win over Pickens

Greer quarterback Ty Breeze came in against Pickens and accounted for a cool 196 total yards and two touchdowns in a 42-21 Greer win. (PHOTO | PRESTON BURCH)

When his name was called, Ty Breeze was ready.

After a second quarter injury to starting quarterback Kaden Rowland, Breeze came in firing on all cylinders, leading Greer to a 42-21 region win at Pickens.

Breeze finished with 86 yards passing and a touchdown to go along with 110 yards on the ground and a rushing score.

“Throughut the weeks, I prepare and watch film as if I’m going to be starting,” said Breeze. “That way, if my name’s called, I’m ready to go.”

Breeze rushed for a 16-yard score and threw a 10-yard touchdown to Brock Diggins in the second half of Greer’s win.

He — along with Jacket running backs Nick Holmes and Calvin McCoy — took advantage of stout offensive line play from the Jackets in the trenches en route to 285 rushing yards and four team touchdowns on the ground.

“For us lineman, it’s really about pounding hard every single day at practice so we can get out here and do the best we can,” said Greer center Blake Taylor. “I think I can attribute our success to who we are as a group. There’s not a single one of those boys [on the offensive line] that I wouldn’t do anything for. That’s what keeps us going.”

The win marked Greer’s fifth successive victory. Despite moving to 4-0 in region play and 5-3 overall, head coach Will Young was less than pleased with what he called an “undisciplined” win.

“It’s good to get the win, but I was disappointed in our composure at times,” said Young. “We’ve got two games to go, and hopefully they learn how to play better than they did tonight.”

Young didn’t mince words when discussing penalties and personal fouls taken by the Jackets. Greer was in the double-digits in penalties on Tuesday against Pickens, and for the second time in the last three games, the Jackets lost a player due to an ejection.

“We just look undisciplined and uncomposed at times,” said Young. “We do some really dumb things. And you can’t beat Daniel doing dumb things.”

Young, of course, was referring to Greer’s Nov. 1 matchup at Daniel — a game that will be the de facto 4-A Region 2 championship. Daniel is also unbeaten this season in region play, and last year, the Lions took down the Jackets 48-20 at Dooley Field.

After an unusual Tuesday night game, Greer will get a bye week this Friday to prepare for the all-important region clash with Daniel. After losing Rowland and wide receiver Mikey Williams to injury against Pickens — along with likely concussions to running back Calvin McCoy and linebacker Sammy White— Young hopes the extra time off will give the Jackets a chance to heal.

“I really don’t think the quick turnaround [from Friday night’s win over Seneca to Tuesday at Pickens] was an issue,” said Young. “Now we have ten days off, so hopefully that will give the kids time to recover.”

BOX SCORE

Greer 7 14 7 14 42

Pickens 7 0 7 7 21

GREER STAT LEADERS

Passing: Kaden Rowland - 6-8, 134 yards, TD | Ty Breeze 9-17, 86 yards, TD

Rushing: Nick Holmes - 22 rushes, 139 yards, TD | Ty Breeze - 12 rushes, 110 yards, TD | Calvin McCoy - 4 rushes, 33 yards, TD | Kaden Rowland - 4 rushes, 3 yards, TD

Receiving: Mikey Williams - 3 receptions, 105 yards, TD | Max Hannon - 3 receptions, 36 yards | Chance Todd - 6 receptions, 32 yards | Brock Diggins - 2 receptions, 24 yards, TD

Defense: Brody Diggins - 9 tackles | Andrew Hanson - 7 tackles | Kaleb Nelson - 6 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 1.5 TFL