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As the Greenville Tigers traveled up U.S. Interstate Highway 65 North to Montgomery‘s historic Cramton Bowl to do battle with the winless park crossing Thunderbirds, all who follow the Black-and-Gold looked forward to seeing their Tigers close out the season with a victory and they got that with a 32-0 win over Park Crossing.

But as soon as the game horn sounded, and they went to their locker room, Tiger head coach Garrick Pimienta received word that his would not be the last game of the season, but they would be playing next week in the AHSAA 5A playoffs first round. The reason being was that the Charles Henderson Trojans had been caught using illegal players and were forced by the association to forfeit all six of their region to ball games. That would knock the Trojans out of playoff competition.

To start the game between the Tigers and the Thunderbirds, the fans in the stands saw a score list first quarter as neither team was able to get on the board due to three Tiger turnovers and one by the Birds. With 9:45 showing on the second quarter clock, Greenville’s 1,000-yards rusher Ty Phillips changed all that on a 3 yard blast into the birds end zone. Quarterback Calderious Williams ran the ball into the end zone for two points to give Greenville an 8 to 0 lead.

On Greenville’s next possession, Williams raced 53 yards for Greenville’s second touchdown of the game with 6:30 left before halftime. The two-point run on the PAT was good, and the visiting Tigers were up 16 zero.

The Tigers closed out the first half scoring when Williams hit receiver Sandrell Williamson on an 18-yard scoring toss. Sophomore Pernell Thornton’s PAT kick was true and Greenville had a comfortable 23-0 lead at halftime.

Once again, the third quarter was the exact copy as the first quarter. It was a defensive scoreless struggle.

With six minutes left in the ball game, the Tigers closed out the game scoring when Ty Phillips ran 49 yards for the Tiger touchdown. The PAT run for two points was good and Greenville improved to 6-and-4 overall, 3-and-3 in 5A Region 2 play. 

The Tigers will enter the 5A playoffs as No. 4 seed out of Region 2. They will travel to Lineville to take on the 10-0 Region 4 champion, the Central Clay County Volunteers. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. this Friday night.