---- — GREENVILLE — Brian Herrick had tears in his eyes; Jerry Pacifico punished himself.

For people who don’t understand the intensity of the Greenville-Reynolds rivalry and these two men — both of whom now coach their respective alma maters’ football programs — well, that’s pricisely the point, and you should have had a Stewart Field seat Friday night.

Cody Nellis’ 10-yard run and Casey Eells’ subsequent conversion kick gave Greenville a 27-26 overtime win in a District 10 Region 3-AA showdown.

Herrick had to compose himself for several seconds before saying, “I am so happy for our five seniors. ... I’m extremely proud of them, the way they came back.

“Our kids, they know when to fight back, and I’m just extremely proud of their effort,” Herrick added.

The Trojans’ triumph was a product of a furious 4th-frame rally from a 20-6 deficit as Jacob Riffe rifled 45- and 43-yard touchdown tosses to Luke  Houpt and Andy Jones, respectively. Eells’ converision kick following the latter with 2:07 left knotted the count at 20.

The loss was particularly painful for Pacifico and his Raiders (3-3, 5-3), who ran roughshod over Greenville for 3 quarters.

Running behind a line composed of tight end Levi Stoyer, guards Joe Yarzab and Logan Rickert, tackles Jamar Henry and Alex McWherter and center Gene Ringer, Mike Millero manfactured a game-high 37-carry, 160-yard performance that included a 34-yard 3rd-quarter scoring sprint. Millero became Reynolds’ 2nd sophomore to surpass the 1,000-yard single-season rushing standard, Pacifico said.

With a 20-6 lead and 12:18 remaining in regulation, Reynolds was ripe for its initial postseason berth during Pacifico’s tenure.

“The fourth quarter we had to sustain a drive, we had to try to keep the ball away from them. That was our game plan; we just didn’t get it done,” Pacifico said, relating,

“Absolutely it had a playoff feel. We win it, we’re in it. That was our goal at the beginning of the year. Our kids fought hard, they wanted to win. It was not a lack of effort; (Herrick) just outcoached me. He got me at the end there. He got me with ‘quads’ (empty back, 4-receiver sets); we just weren’t ready for it. He was just a better coach than I was (Friday) night.”

Greenville (4-2, 4-4) generated only 80 total yards of 1st-half offense, which was virtually negated by 66 yards in penalties, including a half-dozen illegal-procedure calls. Then the Trojans went 3-and-out on all three 3rd-quarter possessions.

However during the 4th frame Riffe recorded a 9-for-11 passing performance for 188 yards. He finished 13 for 22 for 225 yards, also tossing an 8-yard TD to Tyler Fattman in Greenville’s initial drive at the 9:34 mark of the 1st frame. It was set up when Fattman recovered Eells’ pooched kickoff to commence the contest.

Down 2 scores in the final frame the Trojans traveled 91 yards in 8 plays, with Riffe and Houpt collarborating on a 45-yard TD with 6:48 remaining in regulation.

Subsequently after coercing a Reynolds’ punt and assuming possession at their own 20-yard line with 4:42 left, Greenville got the game-tying TD.

Riffe connected with Fattman, Jones and Houpt for gains of 14, 6 and 14, respectively. Then on a 3rd-and-9 from his own 46, Riffe feathered a pass along the sideline to Justin Reynolds for 11 yards and a drive-sustaining 1st down.

On the ensuing play, Herrick’s offensive coordinator Mike Menold called “LSU tight end pop pass,” according to Riffe, who related,

“Coach brought the tackle and a couple receivers off to the right. Andy was still on the line and was still eligible. The safety was off to the right, so I just dumped it over the linebacker.”

Riffe, recalling a wide open Jones stationed in the center of the field, said with a smile his intention was,

“Don’t overthrow it, don’t underthrow it, just get it to him, I don’t care if it’s a spiral or not. Just get it to him, and he was off to the races.”

A 3-and-out resulted in Reynolds’ last regulation possession. And in spite of a Riffe-to-Houpt 2nd-down 32-yard connection, the Trojans’ last drive ended with — not surprisingly — an illegal-procedure penalty when Riffe’s attempted spike to stop the clock occurred before his line was set.

In OT, Greenville, having won the toss, elected to begin on defense. But on 4th-and-goal, Clayton Stoyer scored his second 1-yard plunge. However, having had difficulty with their kicking game, the Raiders opted to run for a 2-point PAT; but Trey VanAken, Jacob Brown and Houpt hit Millero shy of the end zone.

Nellis notched his TD on a Jet sweep around left end on Greenville’s offensive initial play in OT. But Eells — son of legendary Trojans’ tailback Jim Eells — had to weather 2 times-out, 1 by each team, before attempting his game-winning PAT, which he ultimately drilled into the misty darkness.

“It feels awesome! It feels great!” Riffe admitted. “We were down twenty-to-six, and I know some of the kids had their heads down. But I was like, ‘No, we’re winning this game,’ and we did. ... It definitely had a playoff atmosphere to it.”

A week ago Greenville had its head handed to it at Albion by Northwestern (42-7).

“This is probably in the top two,” Herrick responded when asked to put into perspective the magnitude of the win during his Trojan tenure. “Nobody gave us a chance. ... I’m proud of them, ’cause we got ‘waxed’ last week. And for our kids to bounce back and to play as well as they did (Friday)night after the butt-whipping we took last week, it’s a credit to the kids and my staff,” Herrick, his voice quivering, concluded. “I want these seniors to have some success, and I’m proud of them.”

Pacifico confronted the disappointment with dignity. Recalling his  days playing in the Greenville-Reynolds rivalry, he related,

“It always does. It’s a great feeling, it’s a great rivalry! Both teams played hard. You can’t take anything away from the kids, there was definitely no lack of effort at all. It was a fight to the end. They just scored one more point than we did.”

———

REYNOLDS     0      14    6    0      6  26

GREENVILLE   6      0    0    14      7  27

Scoring plays

G — Fattman, 8 pass from Riffe (kick failed)

R — C. Stoyer, 1 run (kick failed)

R — Millero, 12 run (C. Stoyer run)

R — Millero, 34 run (kick failed)

G — Houpt, 45 pass from Riffe (Eells kick)

G — A. Jones, 43 pass from Riffe (Eells kick)

R — C. Stoyer, 1 run (run failed)

G — Nellis, 10 run (Eells kick)

Team stats

REYNOLDS                    GREENVILLE

12    First downs    15

218    Rushing yards    85

25    Passing yards    225

1-1-0    Att-comp-int    22-13-0

243    Total yards    310

3-1    Fumbles-lost    2-1

7-51è    Penalties-yards lost    12-76è

Individual stats

Rushing: REYNOLDS — Millero 37-160, Gursky 8-37, C.Stoyer 5-28, Tymchyshyn 1-(-7); GREENVILLE — Nellis 12-50, Fattman 7-40, Black 4-15, Houpt 1-3, VanAken 1-1, Riffe 7-(-18).

Passing: REYNOLDS — C.Stoyer 1-1-0, 25; GREENVILLE — Riffe 22-13-0, 225.

Receiving: REYNOLDS — Gursky 1-25; GREENVILLE — Houpt 5-123, Fattman 5-42, A.Jones 2-49, Reynolds 1-11.