It’s do-or-die time for North Greene football. T
he Huskies (2-5, 1-3) are staring at a potential elimination from this year’s playoffs with one more loss and are in dire need of a strong run to finish the season. The final stretch begins on Friday night as the Huskies make the long trip to Roan Mountain for a date with the Cloudland Highlanders (2-5, 2-2).
North Greene finished a stretch of three-straight games against teams ranked in the top ten of the TSWA state rankings. The Huskies are on a four-game losing streak and are sitting at 1-3 in Region 1-1A games. To have any hope for the playoffs, the Huskies must win out. The road to that journey begins Friday with an ever-important matchup with Cloudland.
“That’s the thing about going into this week. It’s not about the playoff lives. We have to get back to the basics. Protecting the football, playmakers making plays, effort, tackling, and doing those things right and then everything else will take care of itself. That’s been our main focus over the course of the last few weeks. You wouldn’t know it based on the outcomes, but again that’s been our main focus. Just focusing on the keys that it takes to win,” North Greene Head Coach Eric Tilson stated.
The Highlanders have historically ruled Region 1-1A. Cloudland has a streak of 14-straight years participating in the playoffs and have made it to November in 24 out of 25 seasons this century. So, yeah, you could say Cloudland has a rich tradition of football in Roan Mountain.
Cloudland is on the verge of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2011. A loss to North Greene would hurt the Highlanders’ chances immensely. But for North Greene, it’s not about knocking people out. It’s about making sure they are in themselves.
“We’re not focused on knocking people out of the playoffs, we’re focused on our own lives and trying to get in ourselves,” Coach Tilson said.
The Highlanders have also ruled the all-time series with the Huskies leading it 43-4. Cloudland has won 6 of the last 7 meetings. Cloudland won a 58-51 shootout last year on The Tundra. North Greene’s last win in the series was a 24-22 win in 2024.
Cloudland comes into Friday night with a strong rushing attack and average 28.3 points per game on offense. Defensively, the Highlanders allow 32.3 points per game.
Coach Tilson spoke about Cloudland’s offensive attack saying, “They’ve been traditionally a Power I team and they’ve hopped in some wishbone and option stuff. They try to get you unbalanced. They’ve got a three-headed monster there in the backfield.” Tilson continued and mentioned Cloudland’s hard-nosed defense. “They are aggressive and they get after it. They don’t care what the score is. They are gonna get after it and they are gonna smack you right in the mouth and who’s going to respond the best.”
North Greene finishes the season with road trips to Cloudland, Sunbright, and Unaka. The Huskies must win all three to secure a spot in the playoffs and earn the opportunity to play in November. The fourth spot is still up for grabs and will be decided between North Greene, Cloudland, and Sunbright. The Huskies play both teams in the final three weeks of the season and can run the table themselves.
North Greene averages 25.3 points per game on offense and allows an average of 39.1 points on defense. Senior Leon Johnson leads a strong ground attack for the Huskies and is a mainstay on defense. Johnson has rushed for 827 yards and 4 touchdowns in 7 games. Junior Jared Swatzell is leading the offense at quarterback and has a 52.5% completion rate with 1,027 yards and 15 touchdowns this season.
Coach Tilson stated his three keys to success on Friday is great effort, great tackling, and playmakers need to make plays.
Kickoff is set for 7 PM at Cloudland High School on Friday night.
