By Ben Robinson
Staff Reporter

brobinson@thepccourier.com

PIEDMONT — After trailing by one point at halftime, Easley scored a touchdown on its first possession of the third quarter and then held on in the face of several [cointent_lockedcontent]comeback attempts to take a 13-7 win

Kerry Gilstrap/Courier
Easley’s Bralan Fuller gets away from a Woodmont defender during the Green Wave’s win over the Wildcats on Friday night.

over Woodmont on Friday night.

The win was Easley’s first Region 1-AAAA victory of the year and kept the Green Wave’s playoff hopes alive as they prepare to host Greenwood on Friday night. Easley will finish the season with a trip to Hillcrest and a visit from Greenville.

Woodmont took the opening kickoff at its own 40-yard line but was unable to move the ball on its opening possession. Four plays later, the Wildcats punted the ball to Easley, which took over at its own 25-yard line.

From there, Will Drawdy lost a yard before Dalton Black connected with Bralan Fuller on separate plays of 24 yards then 39 yards to give the Green Wave the ball on the Woodmont 13-yard line.

Drawdy then ran the ball twice, the second for a nine-yard touchdown to put the first points on the board.

The extra point attempt by Josh Hansen failed, and Easley led 6-0 a little more than four minutes into the game.

Woodmont took its ensuing possession and drove deep into Easley territory before turning it over on downs when a Hunter King pass fell incomplete at the Green Wave 27-yard line.

After the two teams traded possessions back and forth, a promising Easley drive ended when Black was intercepted by Brandon Walker midway through the second quarter, and the Wildcats took advantage of the turnover.

Aided by a facemask penalty against Easley, Woodmont drove swiftly down the field, with King hitting Jaquan Williams for a 37-yard score on the third play of the possession. Preston St. Martin’s extra point gave the Wildcats the lead at 7-6 with four minutes to play in the opening half.

Neither team managed anything substantial offensively before the half, but the Green Wave found all the offense they needed in the early stages of the third quarter.

After the opening kickoff of the second half, despite a drive hindered by a pair of penalties against the Green Wave, Black found Fuller for a 56-yard touchdown at the 9:15 mark of the third quarter. Hansen’s extra point made the score 13-7 in favor of the visitors.

Hansen missed a 30-yard field goal that would have extended the lead when the ball sailed wide left on Easley’s next possession, but the Green Wave defense made sure the lead held up.

The Wildcats drove to inside the Easley red zone three times in the fourth quarter, but each time the Green Wave turned them away empty-handed.

On Woodmont’s first fourth-quarter possession, Green Wave defenders Ethan Meyers and Sean-Thomas Faulkner stuffed Deonte Luster for a loss of two on a fourth-down attempt from the Easley 13-yard line.

The next Wildcat drive ended when Easley’s Kaleb Dicks picked off King in the end zone, and Ivan Hill later intercepted King at the Green Wave 13-yard line.

Black finished the night just shy of 200 yards passing, while Malaki Robinson led the Green Wave ground game with 64 yards on 13 carries. Fuller was the top receiver for Easley with 159 yards on nine catches.

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