The South Greene football team fought hard on Friday night, but it could not catch the breaks it needed as it fell 21-14 to Daniel Boone.
“Our effort was great, but it was tough sledding against a good team,” South Greene coach Shawn Jones said. “Some things didn’t go our way, but we play these games to get better. We just have to come back to work on Monday. We had our opportunities tonight, but some penalties late hurt us.”
The Rebels are now 0-2 on the year after falling to Class 6A Morristown East and Class 5A Daniel Boone. They will now turn their attention to Johnson County with both teams looking for their first win of the year next week.
The Rebels could not have asked for a better start on Friday. A sack by Thomas Mayhew forced a Boone punt on its first possession, and then South Greene’s offense marched right down the field the first time it got the ball.
The opening drive was a heavy dose of Tripp Neas as he carried the ball on six of the first seven plays. Neas ended the drive as a wildcat quarterback, charging right up the middle for an eight-yard touchdown.
Neas was the workhorse for South Greene on Friday as he carried the ball 18 times for 85 yards.
Sammy Jones’ extra point made it 7-0 with 6:46 left in the first quarter.
Boone responded with a run-heavy drive of its own. The Trailblazers used 14 run plays to move 72 yards. Dru Fleming, Reid McNeely and quarterback Mykah Lucas split carries on the drive.
On the second play of the second quarter McNeely finished it off with a three-yard touchdown run. The extra point missed its target and South Greene clung to a 7-6 advantage.
Both defenses controlled the rest of the first half and the score stayed unchanged going into intermission.
On the first series of the second half South Greene found itself in a tough spot facing third down with 15 yards to go. Quarterback Dawson Ripley threw the ball up to the midfield stripe where he found Trent Haynes in traffic. Haynes not only pulled in the pass, but he avoided all four defenders in his proximity before racing 75 yards for a touchdown.
With 9:38 left in the third quarter the Rebels led 14-6.
Boone did not take long to answer and covered 84 yards in six plays to tie things at 14-14. Fleming stayed behind big left tackle Dayton Myers before breaking to the boundary for a 26-yard touchdown run. He then ran in the two-point try to even the score.
The lead changed on the Blazers next series, helped by the misapplication of the rule book.
South Greene’s defense thought it had earned a momentum-shifting, fourth-down stop, but instead a curious clipping call was made by the head referee. The flag was thrown between defensive tackle Thomas Mayhew and cornerback Simon Burns. Both Rebels engaged a blocker below the waist and took them to the ground, but according to the NFHS rulebook that alone does not constitute clipping.
According to the NFHS clipping occurs when an opponent is contacted from behind AND below the waist. Both Burns and Mayhew very clearly engaged their blockers from the front.
After the free first down Lucas took a read option 15 yards into the endzone for a 21-14 Daniel Boone lead.
“The Referee told us that we can’t cut on the line of scrimmage as a defender,” Jones said. “Well, he was wrong, we’ve already looked at the rule book. He said he was right, but he was wrong, and that was a big deal. They scored and we should have gotten the ball back.”
South Greene looked as though it might answer on the ensuing possession as it marched to the 19-yard line, but on the next play a bad snap lost 11 yards. Playing behind the sticks on fourth and 21 Ripley threw a desperation heave that was intercepted.
