Greenbrier Christian kicked off their VISFL eight-man football season with non-conference opponent St. David’s (NC) on Friday night in an instant classic.

The Gators, led by QB Grayson Ragsdale, trailed 12-0 as the first half expired, but a clutch interception by James Clark turned the tide for GCA. In 2018, GCA traveled to St.David’s and got beaten 51-19 and came into this game without a scrimmage as new coach Kevin Washington was hired after the schedules had been released.

Coming out after halftime, Ragsdale was 6-18 with 53 yards passing, while St. David’s star RB Meik Goode racked up 74 yards on the ground. St. David's QB James Talton had run in a seven-yard keeper.

After the half, GCA played a little bit of old fashioned “Beamer Ball” and rattled off 20 points unanswered. Brandon Meeks scored twice for GCA in their run, first with a punt block returned for a TD, then a 30-yard reception from Ragsdale.

“It just started with a bad first half,” Meeks explained. “We got in the locker room and got fuel from our coach. It was a good little speech and bought us back into the game.”

The turnaround was quite memorable for the Gators.

“It’s awesome because last year we were crushed, we had all worked so hard last summer, but we worked even harder this summer. I can’t thank my guys enough. They are the greatest. We had some guys step up and that helped us out tonight,” Meeks commented.

New head coach Kevin Washington starts his tenure at GCA off the way he hoped to at 1-0, regardless of how the first half went.

“Second half, I told you we hadn’t scrimmaged all year, so we had to fix a whole lot of stuff at halftime and get the guys to understand and make football plays. Special teams stepped up and put us in position to score and we got the job done," Washington explained.

“We hadn’t seen an opposite color team until today, no scrimmages, just intrasquad stuff and it took us a half. We still have a lot to do, but I tip my hat to the guys. They found a way to get us a win,” Washington said.

Grayson Ragsdale ended the night 7-19 with 83 yards passing and the touchdown to Meeks.

“Getting used to a new coach’s offense takes a while. Like coach said, we really hadn't gotten to play against any other teams except ourselves, so we just have to get back in the swing of it and I have to get back to playing like I did at the end of last season,” Ragsdale exclaimed.

GCA moves to 1-0 and will face Cary Christian (NC) next week. Last year, GCA beat Cary 35-12 at Cary Christian.