Greeneville Middle School’s defense turned up the pressure Wednesday evening at Burley Stadium, creating four turnovers and helping the Greene Devils come away with a 32-16 victory over Norris Middle School.
“Our guys played hard, despite being a little sloppy with some penalties,” said Greeneville coach Cody Baugh. “It was good to play at home and correct some mistakes after our close loss last week.”
Norris won the coin toss and deferred its choice to the second half, but the Senators surprised Greeneville with an onside kick to open the contest. Norris recovered the kick but was forced to punt after losing seven yards over its first three plays.
The Greene Devils struck quickly, needing just one play to find the end zone. After the Senators were flagged offsides, Easton Ricker found Colton Neal racing down the sideline and connected with him for a 50-yard touchdown pass. The two-point conversion gave Greeneville an 8-0 lead with 6:26 remaining in the first quarter.
Greeneville’s defense forced another punt after Norris once again struggled to move the ball, losing three yards over three plays. The Greene Devils, however, nearly self-destructed when they fumbled the punt and gave the ball right back to the Senators.
Two plays later, Greeneville was back in business as Amari Goode scooped up a Norris fumble and returned it 37 yards for a touchdown. The two-point conversion pushed the Greene Devils’ advantage to 16-0 with 2:35 remaining in the opening quarter.
Norris responded on the ensuing possession by engineering a 17-play, 60-yard drive to cut the deficit to 16-8 with 2:28 remaining in the first half.
The Greene Devils were unable to generate much offense on their next possession and turned the ball over on downs after failing to convert on fourth-and-11.
Two plays later, however, Jett Williams came up with the first of his two interceptions on the evening, giving Greeneville the ball back at the Norris 49-yard line.
Greeneville moved the ball to the Norris 28 and took a shot at the end zone as the horn sounded to end the half. The pass was broken up, but a roughing-the-passer penalty gave the Greene Devils one final untimed play from the 14-yard line.
Ricker took full advantage of the opportunity, finding Brayten Begley for the touchdown. The two-point conversion gave Greeneville a 24-8 advantage heading into the locker room.
Norris took the second-half kickoff and picked up a first down on a 17-yard gain from Lucas Eubanks, but an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty backed the Senators up and appeared to halt their momentum. Williams followed with his second interception of the contest, giving Greeneville the ball back with an opportunity to break the game open.
The Greene Devils were unable to capitalize, however, turning the ball over on downs once again with just over two minutes remaining in the third quarter.
The Senators once again leaned on the legs of Eubanks, who finished with 129 yards rushing on 12 carries, to move the ball down to the Greeneville 18-yard line. That’s when Jace Gillespie came through with another big defensive play, intercepting a pass at the 5-yard line with just one second remaining in the third quarter.
Greeneville then put together its most impressive offensive drive of the night, marching 95 yards on nine plays. The drive was capped by a 41-yard touchdown run from Dreke Richard. The two-point conversion gave the Greene Devils a commanding 32-8 lead with 3:09 remaining in the contest.
Norris was able to put together one final scoring drive when Eubanks broke through the line for a 59-yard touchdown run with 1:14 remaining. The score and two-point conversion made the final score 32-16.
Greeneville finished the game with 216 yards of total offense on just 26 snaps. Ricker completed 7 of 14 passes for 139 yards and two touchdowns while adding 13 yards on four carries.
Richard finished with 54 yards on four carries, while Neal caught two passes for 56 yards. Williams added three receptions for 43 yards as the Greene Devils bounced back in front of their home crowd at Burley Stadium.
