Jonesboro, AR – Jonesboro Right Now – Snapping their three-game losing streak on Friday, the Valley View Blazers faced their slump in front of their home crowd and went full throttle in a 27-6 victory over the Greene County Tech Eagles.

From the start, the Blazers showed the Eagles that they intended to bounce back in a big way. After a quick six play drive started the game off with a punt, Valley View’s defense immediately locked in, forcing a turnover on downs to get the ball back at the 31-yard line.

With the great field position, the home team swiftly used their running back core to make a break for the end zone, culminating in a 15-yard touchdown to take an early 7-0 lead.

From here, Valley View built a rhythm on offense that it rode into the second quarter. Their ground game continued to take off as GCT struggled to defend against outside runs with their defensive scheme, giving up multiple breakaway rushes on sideline dashes downfield.

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While being forced to punt, this flow of yardage gains eventually culminated in a two play drive ending in a 63-yard rushing touchdown, bumping the Blazers up to 14-0.

Valley View churned out one more score before halftime on a slow-paced possession with multiple 10+ yard runs that ended in another 15-yard outside rush touchdown. This scoring play showcased another key to success on their early rushing explosion as multiple receivers carved out a path with their blocking to make way for the running back to punch the ball in.

For the Eagles, their offense started off extremely slow due to their reliance on rushing. Each time the quarterback passed the ball off to a running back, their run attempt would hit a brick wall, either resulting in one to two yards or a negative-yardage play.

GCT only attempted three passing plays through the first half with each resulting in an interception, a loss of a yard and an incompletion respectively. Neither the air or ground favored the Eagles much, but their pass defense kept them within reach.

While giving up three scores mostly off rushes, the visitors gave Blazers quarterback Quinn Gartman a hard time when trying to find an open target. In the first half, the Eagles forced him into six incompletions with two pass breakups along with an interception to end the first half.

However, GCT’s offensive issues could not be overcome by the defense alone, leading them to come out at halftime in a 21-0 hole.

The three-touchdown deficit did not seem to daunt the Eagles however as they came out of the gate swinging. After only getting one first down conversion in the first half, the first drive of the third quarter had three alone.

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After making it to Valley View’s 37-yard line on their possession, GCT made crucial errors that kept them from capitalizing on their excellent momentum swing. Back-to-back holding penalties pushed the visitors back into their own territory before a false start sealed their fate, forcing a punt on 4th and 35.

In a wild turn of events, GCT recovered a fumble from Valley View at their own 46-yard line on the next drive, sparking some life after penalties downed the Eagles. That victory did not last long though as they also turned the ball over on the following possession in the exact same fashion.

Following their fumble recovery, Valley View capitalized off their takeaway with another GCT penalty to hit the paydirt on another rushing touchdown, putting the home team up 27-0 after a missed extra point attempt.

While the Eagles’ rush-centered offense continued to improve through trick handoffs and better blocking, their defense also began to clamp down on the Blazers.

Following Valley View’s last touchdown of the game, GCT forced a three-and-out for the first time this game. However, a miffed punt attempt really put the cherry on top of this stop for the Eagles as it gave them excellent field position at the Blazers’ 25-yard line.

From there, GCT finally made some headway into Valley View’s interior defense and scored their lone touchdown of the game. However, a blocked extra point put a damper on their celebration.

With the game now sitting at 27-6 in favor of the Blazers, the Eagles pushed harder against the home team’s offense, but it turned out to be a little too late. After forcing another consecutive three-and-out, GCT received the ball back but was unable to punch in another score before the final whistle.

Even with some excellent defense to close out the half, the Eagles were unable to generate much offense with costly penalties and Valley View’s stifling defense, ending in GCT’s fifth loss on the year.

Valley View will face the Nettleton Raiders in their penultimate matchup of the regular season while GCT takes on the Batesville Pioneers as both kickoff on Oct. 30.

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