By Ronnie Gallagher
rgallagher@salisburypost.com
GRANITE QUARRY ó It was overtime with East Rowan in a do-or-die situation. The Mustangs trailed by three points.
Chris Moore heard the play call and knew he would be running behind Greysen Gordy.
Things were right with the world.
“As soon as I hit the hole, I knew I had a great chance to score,” Moore said. “Greysen did a great job.”
The 9-yard burst from Moore gave East Rowan a pulsating 14-11 win against South Brunswick in the first round of the 3A playoffs. And it wasn’t a coincidence that coach Brian Hinson called a play with Gordy in mind.
“Greysen’s been our most consistent lineman all year,” Hinson said. “He probably knows the offense better than any offensive lineman we have.”
Gordy took on the challenge when he lined up. The 6-foot-1, 240-pound right guard said it wasn’t any overwhelming play. He did his job.
“I just blocked my man,” he said. “I knew it didn’t have to be a perfect block. I just had to keep them off the running back.”
After Gordy did his job, Moore did his. He plowed into the end zone while his lineman was still on the ground.
“I turned around, and everybody’s celebrating,” Gordy said. “I saw Chris and started clapping.”
It’s been an odd year for Gordy and the offensive line. After a slow start, the group’s peaking at the right time.
“We had a new offense,” Gordy explained of the early adjustment. “After the third game, we started believing in it, and we saw what we could do with it.”
Hinson said quarterback Jamey Blalock makes decisions at the line of scrimmage, but Gordy gets his share of runners coming his way.
“Greysen’s got a lot of strength and aggression in that stumpy frame,” said Hinson, a former All-American offensive lineman at Catawba. “At the start of the year, we were kinda worried about him. But he rededicated himself. He’s one of those senior offensive linemen who have put in the time.”
As a sophomore, Gordy spent some time on varsity when his brother, C.J., got hurt. C.J.’s team went 7-5 two seasons ago.
“We always argue about what team was better,” Greysen said. “He stopped talking about it when we won our eighth game.”
In fact, C.J. was there to greet his brother after East’s latest win Friday.
“He congratulated me and gave me a hug,” Greysen said.
Everyone in the East area has been congratulating Gordy and his teammates for their 9-3 season. Last year’s 1-10 mark is a distant memory.
“We got a new mindset,” Gordy said. “We said, ‘Forget about last season. We can’t keep thinking about it. Just move forward. It can’t get any worse.’ ”
Now, it seems it can’t get any better for Gordy. He was confident when he lined up on a second-and-9, his team down 11-8 in overtime.
Gordy said East goes over those situations in practice. And Gordy, Chris Demitraszek, Dalton Miller, Nathan Robbins and Kendall Morgan were ready to contribute to yet another close win.
It was East’s sixth victory decided by seven points or less.
“It’s the same old stuff every Friday, it seems like,” Gordy said.
The same old stuff includes an East running back following a Gordy block into the end zone.
“Without Greysen, I wouldn’t have gotten that touchdown,” Moore said. “Him and Dalton just split it.”
Which had Gordy thinking.
“We do all the dirty work,” he said. “I wish we could be awarded six points.”