The Greenville Tigers won a close game against the Hillcrest Jaguars at Friday night’s opening season game.

Greenville started the game on offense. Before the first offensive play, both teams were flagged for penalties. Hillcrest was penalized for a personal foul, while Greenville was penalized for a false start.

Despite an impressive display by the offense to make up for lost yardage, a holding penalty and a penalty for too many men on the field forced the Tigers to kick a 37-yard field goal that was blocked by the Jaguar defense.

Hillcrest then took possession of the ball at the nine-yard line, where they were imminently pushed back by the Greenville defense. Hillcrest made the miscalculation of intentionally grounding the ball in the end zone resulting in a safety.

Up 2-0 and back in control of the ball, the Tigers attempted to make a booming drive but were immediately stopped when fists started flying from the Jaguar defense.

After pushing and shoving by both teams and multiple penalties, one Greenville player and two Hillcrest players were ejected from the game.

Although unable to score while in possession of the ball, Hillcrest accrued another safety upon their control of the ball, resulting in Greenville leading 4-0 before the end of the first quarter.

The first Greenville touchdown would come from a three-yard run by Laquan Robinson toward the end of the second quarter. The Tigers tried for a two-point conversion but were unsuccessful.

Although Hillcrest was able to score midway through the third quarter on top of making a successful two-point conversion, the Greenville Tigers were able to hold onto the lead and win the game with a final score of 10-8.

Greenville’s Head Coach Josh McLendon said the team played well when asked about their performance.

“I think we ran the ball well and played defense well,” McLendon said. “It feels good to start the season off with a win. We got a few sloppy penalties which are uncharacteristic of our players, and made a few other mistakes. We need to clean up a bit and get the guys to understand the importance of each position, but overall I think we did pretty well.”