ELIZABETHTON – The Greeneville football team heads into the postseason riding high after a record-setting night in Elizabethton on Friday.
The Greene Devils took down their arch-rival 48-20 to close the regular season with a 10-0 record that cements the Region 1-4A championship. In the process senior Taren Claridy etched his name at the top of the state record book.
“It was a total team effort. We knew that Elizabethton was going to battle. When these two teams meet its going to be a knock-down-drag out fight,” Greeneville coach Eddie Spradlen said. “Anytime you can beat your rival like this it’s pretty special. This game is all about handling adversity and when we had guys go out others stepped up and did a really great job.”
Claridy pulled in three touchdown passes in the win to bring his season total to 29 touchdown receptions, a new state record. He surpassed Greenback’s Holden Willis’ mark of 28 touchdown catches in 15 games in 2019.
“I never thought about 29 touchdown this season. My goal going into the season was 15, but Kaine (Ricker) and I have been working on Sundays and I began to think I could have a big year,” Claridy said. “It means everything to set the state record. I’m really just glad that my teammates and my coaches trust me to go out and make plays.”
Claridy equaled Willis’ mark with 9:28 left in the fourth quarter when he went into the night sky to grab a jump ball from Kaine Ricker over a pair of defenders. Less than three minutes later he took the record outright when Kase Spradlen found him on a crossing route that covered 28 yards before he trotted across the goal line.
“I’ve said it all year, he’s the best player around,” coach Spradlen said. “There are not many that can go up and get that ball he caught in the corner. He just goes and makes plays. He continues to work hard in practice and the weight room, and he is just a great leader for this football team.”
Claridy’s 11 catches for 189 yards and three scores were just part of the Greene Devils’ prolific offensive outing. The Devils produced 545 yards of total offense on Friday, the third time they have produced over 500 yards this season.
“We felt like we could run the football on them. Then they were trying to take away those short passes, and our coaches did a great job of finding ways to get guys open,” Spradlen said. “It all started up front with how hard those guys on the line played. Our center went out and we had to put Gustavo (Alvarez) in there and he hasn’t played center all year. I’m just really proud of that group.”
Ricker threw for 260 yards and ran for 88 yards while accounting for four combined touchdowns. It is the seventh time this year Ricker has thrown for over 250 yards which is a new school record.
“We’ve worked hard all year and it feels great to get to 10-0 tonight,” Ricker said. “Our coaches put together a great game plan. Our running backs ran hard. I had to run it more tonight. Then we still had the passing game. We were just clicking on all cylinders.”
The Cyclones’ defense started Friday looking to blanket Claridy and on the opening drive it worked, forcing the Devils to punt. On Greeneville’s second series Ricker took advantage of the extra attention applied to his top target. Claridy took off deep down the right boundary and the coverage drifted in his direction. That left Braylen Kidwell open down the middle for a 53-yard touchdown.
The extra point was blocked but Greeneville led 6-0 with 7:59 left in the first quarter.
Elizabethton answered with its best drive of the night. The Cyclones covered 77 yards in 5:51 and capped things with a one-yard run from William McDuffie. William Bowers’ extra point made it 7-6 and put the Devils behind for the first time all season.
Greeneville only played from behind for 1:15. The go-ahead score came when Ricker took off to the right side and shook a defender on the way to a 28-yard touchdown run.
“We challenged these guys after we got down, and told them this is going to be a dog fight,” Spradlen said. “We went down and scored quick. Then we started playing defense the way we know how to. It was just small adjustments here and there, and getting pressure on them.”
Ricker was more active in the run game on Friday, and ran for a season-high 88 yards. As a team Greeneville ran for 251 yards. Jude Dyer ran for 75 yards and two touchdowns, and Yordan Mills added 70 yards rushing.
Greeneville went in front 20-7 on Claridy’s first touchdown catch of the night. He got the Cyclones secondary turned around by first stabbing inside before breaking out and grabbing the 15-yard score.
A 43-yard catch and run by Zy Neal set up the Devils next score. This time Dyer plunged across the goal line from one yard to push the lead to 27-7.
The Cyclones were able to run out the clock over the final five minutes of the first half and Bowers closed the period with a 32-yard field goal that narrowed the margin to 27-10.
Dyer started Greeneville’s second-half scoring with an eight-yard run before Claridy pulled in his second and third touchdown catches of the night.
Elizabethton’s McDuffie set the final margin at 48-20 with a 48-yard touchdown run with 3:07 left to play.
McDuffie finished Friday with 142 rushing yards on 24 carries.
The win gives Greeneville its ninth 10-0 regular season in program history.
Now the Greene Devils turn their attention to the Class 4A playoffs where they will host Fulton next week in the opening round.
“We’ve still got a long way to go,” Spradlen said. “We came into the year with some doubts after what we lost, but these guys came out here and went 10-0. We set all kinds of records, Taren set a state record. It’s all because of their hard work. It’s special to play high school football at Greeneville. We are going to have to continue to work, but it’s special to play in the playoffs, especially when you are playing at Burley Stadium.”
