The lights will shine bright at Burley Stadium one more time on Friday when the Greeneville Greene Devils line up against Upperman in the second round of the Class 4A playoffs.
It will be the second time the two teams have met this season, and Greeneville won the first matchup 48-14 in Baxter, but Devils’ coach Eddie Spradlen knows the Bees are a different team from the one he saw on August 28.
“They are a much improved football team. We played them early in the year and it was a breakout game for this football team,” Spradlen said. “They have changed quarterbacks since then. They are doing the things that have made them successful in the past. We expect that are coming down here looking for a little revenge. They are a team that is playing hard and that wants to keep on playing.”
Upperman comes into the game with a 7-4 record and finished third in Region 4-4A behind 11-0 White County and 10-1 Macon County. The Bees other loss came to 10-1 Beech who is ranked No.5 in Class 5A. The four teams that beat the Bees have a combined for two losses.
Last week Upperman beat Loudon 33-27 in overtime. In that game Jude Fitzpatrick ran 35 times for 221 yards and three touchdowns. On the year Fitzpatrick has run for 1,087 yards and 14 touchdowns. As a team Upperman has run for 2,847 yards while averaging 6.4 yards per carry.
Since playing Greeneville the first time the Bees have moved Elijah Barrows to quarterback. The senior passer has thrown for 51 yards per game while completing 56 percent of his passes. The other player Greeneville will have to be warry of is tight end and Ole Miss commit Colton Johnson who spent time as a wildcat quarterback the first time Greeneville played Upperman. Johnson missed the Bees’ losses to White County and Macon County with an injury, but the Devils expect to see plenty of him on Friday.
“They are going to line up and run the football,” Spradlen said. “They want to pound it down your throat and see it you can stop it. They go for it a lot on fourth down and make you stop them. They’ll kick it onside and play like they have nothing to lose.”
In contrast the Greene Devils bring one of the most dangerous passing attacks in the state to the contest. Quarterback Kaine Ricker has thrown for 2,933 yards and 39 touchdowns while completing 84 percent of his passes. His favorite target Taren Claridy now has 1,867 receiving yards and 31 receiving touchdowns.
The Devils expect Upperman to throw everything at stopping their aerial attack that is producing 52 points per game while going 11-0. That could open things up for running back Jude Dyer who is averaging 7.6 yards per carry and has scored 14 touchdowns this season.
“I’m sure they will try something different than what we saw the first time, but they are going to have to pick their poison,” Spradlen said. “I’m sure they will try to stop the pass. We have to be able to run the football, use the short passing game, block on the edge and let our playmakers make plays.”
Friday will mark the fourth time Greeneville and Upperman have met on the gridiron. The first meeting came in the 2023 state semifinals and the Bees won 21-14. Since then the Greene Devils have won two regular season meetings against Upperman.
Kickoff for Friday’s game is set for 7 PM and will be live on the airwaves on WGRV 99.5 FM.
