It’s rare to hear a coach praise his punter and call him the “key” to a victory. But unfortunately for Westside, Greenwood’s Cal Tinsley turned out to be the difference maker in a game decided by field position and defense.

The visiting Eagles jumped out to a 16-0 lead in the first quarter behind a pair of touchdown runs by quarterback D.J. Swearinger and stifled the Rams’ offensive attack for much of the game to beat Westside, 16-7, on Friday in their Region-1 AAAA opener.

“I thought Cal Tinsley’s punting tonight was unbelievable,” Greenwood coach Shell Dula said after that game. “That was probably the key in the football game.”

The teams combined for 12 punts and played most of the night between the 30-yard lines.

Rams coach Ted Luckadoo said abandoning the running game early and turning to a passing attack, which saw quarterback Brandon McCann go 15-for-31 for 140 yards and one pick, really made it tough for a comeback.

“We were fighting uphill the whole way,” Luckadoo said about his team, which plays at Wren next week. “That first quarter really cut our throats. We gave them good field position. They got a good football team and we knew that. But we felt like if we could execute we could stay in there with them.”

The Rams (2-5, 0-1 region) scored their only touchdown of the night on a 1-yard run by Cody Queen in the second quarter that was set up by a series of clutch passing plays, including a 30-yard catch by Nathan Stukes.

But it wasn’t enough to overcome Greenwood’s big first quarter. The Eagles (3-4, 1-0) scored on their first drive when Swearinger, who rushed for 147 yards on 21 carries, scored from two yards out to make it 7-0. Greenwood tackled Savayea Glenn in the end zone for a safety three drives later before Swearinger took a snap 19 yards for a touchdown run just before the end of the first quarter.

“It was a great region win against a very good football team,” Dula said. “I’ve got a world of respect for Ted Luckadoo and the job that he does. We were very fortunate our defense played well.

“Every game we play is going to be like this. We’re not as explosive offensively as we would love to be. We’ve got to score when our defense sets it up for us.”

For Westside, the bright spot was the defense, which forced an interception and fumble in its own territory to keep the margin from being any worse.

“The defense played hard,” Luckadoo said. “The defensive coaches and kids did a good job, they shut them down. We got to take something from that.

“I’m certainty disappointed we didn’t win but we got to circle the wagons here, stay together and keep working. We’ll get something good happening.”