ROAN MOUNTAIN – There was a lot on the line on Friday night when North Greene traveled to Cloudland, and the Huskies kept all of their goals alive on with a hard-fought win over the Highlanders.
The Huskies picked up their first win in Roan Mountain since 2011 and snapped a five-game losing streak to Cloudland with a 24-22 victory in Region 1-A play at Orr Field. More importantly, the Huskies secured an opening round home playoff game and will host Cosby in the regular season finale with the winner claiming the Region 1-A Championship.
“We beat ourselves in the first half and to overcome those mistakes and fix those, it just makes it very fulfilling to know what we have been through to be able to be here,” North Greene Head Coach Eric Tilson said. “We are in unmarked territory for North Greene football. This has never happened before. We are hosting a playoff game now and we are playing at our place next week for a region title.”
Yeshua Vaught had 11 carries for 91 yards with a touchdown, while Thomas Darnell had 79 yards on 18 carries with a touchdown on the ground, and also went 10-of-16 passing for 149 yards and a score.
North Greene took an 8-0 lead midway through the first quarter as Darnell hit Jake Duffy for a 17-yard touchdown. Darnell added the two-point conversion to give NG an 8-0 lead after a quarter of play.
Duffy had 137 receiving yards on eight catches.
Cloudland answered on the opening play of the second quarter as Grayson Cole scored his first of three touchdowns on a short run. Landon Barnette added the two-point conversion to tie things up at 8-8.
The teams traded possessions throughout the second quarter, and Cloudland looked to take a lead in the closing seconds of the half, but the Huskies stood strong on defense at its own five-yard line to keep the score tied at 8-8 at the break.
The ‘Landers took the lead on the opening drive of the second quarter as Cole scored on a 15-yard run. It looked like Cloudland was going to push the lead to two possessions after recovering a North Greene fumble, but the Huskies defense forced Cloudland off the field on fourth down inside the 10-yard line.
North Greene responded offensively with a quick drive that ended when Vaught scored on a four-yard touchdown.
That gave the Huskies a 16-14 lead after three complete quarters.
Cloudland once again regained the lead early in the fourth as Cole scored on a short run, but Vaught answered for North Greene with five minutes remaining.
From there, the North Greene defense stood strong and secured the win for the Huskies.
“This is a marquee win,” Tilson said. “We’ve been talking about what we’ve been working toward, and to do it in that fashion, to have to run the clock down to get two big defensive stops when our defense has struggled over the past few weeks.
“I’m happy for these guys, and I’ve said this a lot this past year as a coach I can’t win any games. I sure can lose them, but I can’t win any and these guys stepped up to play and won this game.”
The win marked the 100th win in North Greene football history. The Huskies improve to 6-2, and have six wins in a season for the second time in program history. They have earned the chance to host a home playoff game for the second time ever.
Now they turn their attention to Cosby (7-2, 4-0) next week, with the Region 1-1A championship on the line. North Greene has never won a region championship in football.
