Expect a rowdy crowd in Baileyton on Friday night as South Greene visits North Greene for a cross-county battle.
“They are going to have a big crowd there Friday, and North Greene is coming in with a good team,” South Greene coach Shawn Jones said. “It’s a rivalry game, we know going in that we are going to get their best. We are going to have to bring our best as well. They are throwing the ball all over the place right now, and we are going to do our best to slow them down.”
The Huskies come into the contest with a 2-1 record and coming off of 55-0 win over Hancock County. South Greene is 1-2, but hopes it got on track last week in a 48-6 win over Johnson County.
The two teams have met 45 times since 1976 and South Greene leads the all-time series 41-4. The last time North Greene defeated the Rebels was 2014. Last year South Greene won 56-7.
North Greene knows that if it is going to end its nine-game losing streak it is going to have to slow down South Greene running back Tripp Neas. The senior is coming off of a career day where he ran for 229 yards and six touchdowns against Johnson County.
“They have a lot of great players and that starts with Tripp Neas who is one of the best players in our entire area,” North Greene coach Eric Tilson said. “He’s one of my favorite players to watch. I like the way he plays football. We have our work cut out for us defensively to try stop him and their potent offense.”
North Greene will enter Friday’s game with its own dangerous offense. Quarterback Jared Swatzell is coming off a six-touchdown performance against Hancock County. His favorite target has been Matt Boyd, but Kelson Eastep, Levi Gray and Parker Collins had all made big plays in the passing game.
The variety of receivers will be a challenge for the Rebels’ secondary, but Jones feels like the key will be putting pressure on Swatzell.
“They are going to run a lot of RPO game,” Jones said. “They like to see your defense and then make the call, and maybe we need to play a little cat and mouse with them. Their quarterback is shifty and we need to get some pressure on him. If we can hurry him up maybe we can for some turnovers.”
North Greene running back Leon Johnson is also off to a strong start to the season. He has run for over 100 yards in each of the first three contests and scored a touchdown in each game.
Kickoff is set for 7 PM at North Greene. The game will be live streamed on the Greene Sports Zone Facebook and YouTube pages.
