In an emotionally supercharged night of action, Greenville Academy effectively crushed the life out of Ashford Academy, notching their first win in the last 19 meetings, both home and away.

It was the perfect ending to a game that increased with each quarter, and Tornados head coach Charles Oswald was proud to have the win.

"I'm glad to get the monkey off of their backs," Oswald said, following the win. "Many of our players are young enough that they had never won a game n very few on the team now were here when the last game was won n they needed it tonight."

The Tornados showed improvement with each tick of the clock, although it was a little shaky at first.

"Once we got past the first quarter, they realized they could beat the Falcons, and it made all the difference in the world to them

they just kept getting fired up more and more," he said.

In the first quarter, neither the Tornados nor the Falcons were able to make enough headway to score, although the Nados did keep chiseling away at Ashford's defense, wearing them down.

Then in the second quarter, with 1:02 left on the clock, Andy Beck scored the first touchdown of the night on a 10-yard run, but the PAT was not good, making the score GA 6, Ashford 0.

That was what it took for the Tornados to charge up their batteries.

Coming back after the halftime break and homecoming ceremony, the Tornados were persistent, and with 5:13 left in the third, Emory Winters came in on a one-yard run for the TD. Then Beck stepped up with the PAT, to make the score 14-0 Tornados.

Again in the third with 2:34 to go, Blakely Ward scored a TD on a 35-yard run, and quarterback Adam Moore followed carrying the ball in for the two-point conversion, and the score was 22-0.

Continually wearing at the Falcons, the Tornados again scored a TD when Bubba Faulk came through with a six-yard run followed by Ward bringing in the two-pointer.

This would be the last score of the night.

"During the last six minutes of the game, we played our junior varsity boys," said Oswald. "We only had three varsity players out there during that time n it gave the younger players an opportunity to step up to play."

As the clock expired, the team christened Oswald with an ice cooler, and the entire packed home team bleachers emptied out as fans ran out to congratulate the Nados on their victory.

Leading the offense for the Tornados was Faulk, with 19 carries for 102 yards. Adam Moore was next with seven carries yielding 43 yards, and then it was Beck with nine carries for 30 yards.

Ward came through six carries and 57 yards gained, then it was Winters with 30 yards on five carries and Justin Murphy with three carries and 15 yards gained.

Quarterback Adam Moore went four-for-eight on pass completions for 20 yards.

Thomas Strickland had one reception for 13 yards, Blakely Ward had one reception for 12 yards, and Andy Beck had two receptions, pushed back a total of minus five yards.

The Tornados moved the ball 297 yards, 277 of that in rushing and 20 in passing. They went through the whole game without a single fumble; seven penalties were assessed against GA for a loss of 55 yards. The Tornados tripled the Falcons on first downs, with 18 to Ashford's six.

The Falcons advanced the ball 110 yards, 49 from rushing and 61 via passing.

Ashford went five for 10 on passing, with 61 yards and three interceptions.

Defensively, Dustin McNeil led the way for the Nados with three tackles and two assists.

Adam Garlock was next with three tackles and one assist, then it was Brooks Moore with two tackles, two assists, one fumble recovery and one interception.

Next week the Tornados will be on the road when they travel to play against Marengo Academy, in GA's second area game of the year.