Mother Nature produced storms that pushed through upper East Tennessee and delayed numerous high school football games Friday evening. But once things finally kicked off at 9:05 p.m., it was the Greeneville offense that stormed past Sullivan East, rolling to a 76-8 victory while piling up 595 yards of total offense.
The 595-yard performance was Greeneville’s most since 2024, when the Greene Devils produced 621 yards against Gibbs.
“We had to battle some adversity early on with the weather and not getting to do our normal routine,” said head coach Eddie Spradlen. “Once we got going, we really turned it on by flying around and making a lot of plays and allowing us to get a lot of kids in the end zone, which was something that I was proud of.”
Greeneville won the toss and elected to receive the opening kickoff, appearing to get things going in a hurry.
Taren Claridy took the kick and raced 85 yards for what appeared to be a touchdown, with just a few ticks coming off the clock. Unfortunately for the second consecutive week, the return was called back because of a personal foul for an unnecessary block.
The Greene Devils, however, were not rattled.
Quarterback Kaine Ricker connected with Claridy down the sideline to move the ball deep into Patriot territory, and Jude Dyer capped the drive with a 3-yard touchdown plunge. Gannon Cogdell, who was perfect on all nine of his PAT attempts, made it 7-0 with 10:20 remaining in the opening quarter.
Sullivan East, known for its “Air Raid” style of offense, took possession on the ensuing series and kept the ball for a little more than five minutes but was unable to produce any points.
Greeneville quickly marched 67 yards in just three plays to extend its lead to 14-0. Ricker connected with Claridy for a 2-yard touchdown pass with 4:08 remaining in the opening period.
The Greene Devils then managed to run five more offensive plays in the quarter and came away with two more scores.
Ricker connected with Zy Neal for a 29-yard touchdown with 1:07 remaining, followed by a 13-yard strike to Claridy with just 10 seconds showing on the clock, giving Greeneville a commanding 28-0 advantage.
The second quarter opened with three quick Greene Devil scores, the first coming after one of Greeneville’s five interceptions on the night.
Yordan Mills took a pass from Ricker and raced 50 yards for the touchdown, giving the Greene Devils a 35-0 lead with 10:52 remaining in the half.
Ricker then ended his night by completing his fifth touchdown pass, finding Cole Smith down the right sideline for a 31-yard score and a 42-0 advantage.
Ricker was a perfect 11-for-11 passing for 279 yards, becoming only the third Greene Devil quarterback to complete every pass in a game with at least 10 attempts since Caden Baugh went 12-for-12 for 281 yards against Carter in 2025. Cade Ballard accomplished the feat twice, going 11-for-11 in both 2016 and 2017.
The Greene Devils weren’t finished.
Zy Neal added a defensive score when he intercepted a Patriot pass and returned it 28 yards for a touchdown with 9:24 remaining in the half.
Kase Spradlen then took over at quarterback and connected with Neal on a 26-yard touchdown pass with 4:31 remaining before calling his own number with 16 seconds left in the half, racing 36 yards for another score.
With the clock running in the second half, Greeneville’s third quarterback, Parker Quillen, got in on the scoring action when he scampered 10 yards for a touchdown with 5:36 remaining in the third quarter. Noah Culler added the PAT to make it 70-0.
Sullivan East finally broke through against the Greeneville reserves when its starting offense orchestrated an 11-play, 80-yard drive. Burke capped the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run and then converted the two-point attempt with 8:33 remaining in the game to make the score 70-8.
The Patriots managed only 158 yards of total offense for the game despite doubling the Greene Devil’s time of possession 32:04 to 15:56.
Greeneville ended the night with another piece of history.
Quarterback Hudson Quillen, who had already completed a pass to his brother Parker, found Kase Spradlen for an 11-yard touchdown, giving Kase three different ways of finding the end zone in the same game.
Kase became only the second Greene Devil to accomplish the feat since Mark Albertson did it in a 35-13 victory over Sullivan Central on Oct. 26, 1972.
Albertson scored three different ways in that game, rushing 63 yards for a touchdown, completing a 19-yard scoring pass to Tank Black and catching a 27-yard touchdown pass from Tommy Greenway.
The Greene Devils will now turn their attention to a much-anticipated matchup next week against Sevier County.
The Smoky Bears, coming off a 28-7 victory over David Crockett, will enter the game at Burley Stadium as the No. 1-ranked team in Class 5A. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
“Our goal is to be better each week,” Spradlen concluded. “We’ve played up to this point to get ready for this game, and it’s one that everybody wants to see. It’s going to be a big-time challenge, but our kids want to play in it and me and my coaches are excited to coach it. We will have to do the little things to be successful.”
