Often times defensive lineman are in the news for their sacks or forced fumbles, but in the fourth quarter of last Friday’s  win over St. Rita, with 5:30 left in the game, the St. Rita quarterback was under pressure and tried to hit a running back coming out of the backfield. Instead, the ball landed in defensive lineman Terrell Greer’s hands. Greer then took the ball 74 yards for a touchdown that gave the Caravan a 35-14 lead and sealed the victory.

Mount Carmel senior Henry Lansing, team manager, had an excellent view of the whole play from his spot on the sideline. “Everyone was sort of shocked at first and couldn’t believe what was happening.” According to Lansing, after Greer crossed the 35 yard line the team’s excitement started to grow. As Greer approached the end zone a pancake block by senior Steve Wirtel sealed the touchdown.

The excitement, however, ended up costing the team on the ensuing kick off, as a 15 yard penalty was called for sideline interference. Lansing admitted, “The team was out almost as far as the numbers by the time Greer was at the 15 yard line.”

David Demy, senior defensive lineman, shared a player’s point of view of the memorable, but somewhat comical play. “All I saw was that the ball was tipped up in the air,” he recalled.    “I couldn’t exactly see who caught the ball,” but when he saw number 94 on Greer’s jersey, “I couldn’t believe it. I just started laughing.”

While it’s rare for a defensive lineman to score a touchdown even once in his four year career, this was not Greer’s first trip to the endzone.  He vividly recalls scoring as a sophomore against Leo High School.

In that game, MC’s Andrew Guerra was in pursuit of the quarterback, who  tried to throw the ball away to avoid the sack. However, the ball did not make it back to the line of scrimmage so it was a live ball.  Greer scooped it up, and like his most recent play, on that occasion there was no stopping the 5’9″ 279 lb Greer from reaching the end zone.

Although Greer remembers that one as if it was last week, he insists, “This most recent interception was way better than the first one.” Greer said all he was thinking about was, “I have to score; I can’t be stopped.”

Last Saturday morning Greer was quoted in a Chicago Sun-Times article saying he called the interception before the game: “I just felt it, I told all my guys I was going to get a pick six today but I didn’t think it would be 74-yards but that was amazing,” Greer said. Greer confirmed this statement, saying he called it sitting in anatomy class, but no one in the class can recall this statement.

Not content to sit on his accomplishments, Greer still has a desire to “one-up” his fumble and interception returns. He wants to “get both in one game; it’s the only thing left I can do.”