[9/20/03]John Baker was hoping Porters Chapel Academy would overlook his outmanned Greenville Christian squad Friday night.

The Eagles (3-2, 2-1 Conference 5-A) did look over the Saints. They also ran over them and worked them over in a 46-0 rout.

Gerald Mims rushed for 128 yards and four touchdowns on seven carries, and Humphrey Barlow added 93 yards and two touchdowns on the ground on five touches. In all, PCA totaled 302 rushing yards and held Greenville to 60 yards of total offense.

“We had holes I could have went through on a wheelchair. It was unbelievable,” Mims said. “We had line blocking, fullbacks taking them out of the hole, wide receivers downfield blocking. There was nobody but the safety. Everybody on the field was blocked.”

PCA set the tone for the game on the opening series. It took the Eagles only four plays to cover 61 yards, with Mims capping the brief drive on a 1-yard touchdown run. The score was set up by Barlow’s 26-yard run, and a 29-yard run by Mims to the Greenville 1-yard line.

Mims struck twice more in the first quarter, on TD runs of 31 and 43 yards, as PCA opened a 27-0 lead at the end of the period. Defensive lineman Lance Gullett also scored a touchdown when he stripped the ball from Greenville’s Greg Moorman and returned it 13 yards.

Greenville added to its own misery. The Saints had a kickoff return for a touchdown called back for an illegal block, and threw an interception two plays after Chris McNeer had picked off a pass and returned it 37 yards to the PCA 23-yard line.

“We got our heads down. When we got that interception, we should have done something with it. It didn’t go our way, and we got our heads down, and that’s what young ballclubs do,” Baker said.

Mims didn’t carry the ball in the second quarter, but still had 112 yards on only six carries by halftime. He also caught a pass and weaved through the Greenville defense for a 46-yard gain to the 1-yard line, setting up a touchdown run by Barlow on the next play.

After that score, with 5:54 remaining in the first half, game officials switched to a running clock and the only suspense was whether the extra-long homecoming halftime festivities would last longer than the second half.

The 31-minute homecoming ceremonies won, by about two minutes over the speedy 29-minute half.

“I would have liked to get some guys in who haven’t gotten a whole lot of playing time, and some younger guys … but I can understand why they do that,” PCA coach Bubba Mims said of the running clock.

Barlow and Gerald Mims each added another touchdown run for PCA in the second half as the Eagles tinkered with their offense and made sure the Saints didn’t end the shutout.

Greenville managed two first downs in the second half double their total from the first two quarters but still couldn’t move the ball against PCA’s defense.

Nearly 90 percent of their offensive plays were a basic dive up the middle, and the Eagles slammed the door time after time. Greenville’s longest play from scrimmage netted a mere 7 yards.

“It may sound a little corny, but before the game I think we were a little flat,” Bubba Mims said. “We had a little pump-up speech in the locker room, and we came out and played OK.”