The North Greene Huskies’ football program began in 1975, losing its first 62 games before their first win at Unaka in 1982. Danny Cox, an All-Greene County WR/TE on that 1982 team, remembers that September night like it was yesterday.
Cox says, “My memory is not as good as it once was, but I’ll never forget that win over Unaka up there, 26-8, my senior season”.
Now, some 42 years later after that first win the Huskies have earned a home playoff game for only the second time ever and are looking for more after winning their 100th game last week against Cloudland. Now when they square off with Cosby on Friday night they are chasing another history-making win.
The Huskies have a 6-2 overall record, with a perfect 4-0 conference slate. North Greene can win the Region 1-1A championship outright with a win over the Eagles. The Eagles are 7-2 on the season and are also unbeaten in the conference at 4-0. Both schools received votes in the latest TSWA poll and sit just outside the top 10 in the state rankings.
A win over the Eagles at the Tundra this Friday night would give the Huskies their first conference title and the number one seed in the first round of the TSSAA playoffs. A win would also give the Huskies seven wins on the season which would be the most in a season in school history.
The Huskies are fresh off a 24-22 victory over state power Cloudland, in Roan Mountain. Cosby had a six-game winning streak snapped last week at home to Grainger, 35-19, in a non-conference battle. In North Greene’s win over Cloudland the Huskies moved the ball both by ground and air as Yeshua Vault rushed for 91 yards while Thomas Darnell added another 79 on the ground and passed for 149 yards in the air, with Jake Duffy one the receiving end of 137 of those yards.
Head coach Eric Tilson says, “This is essentially a playoff game, the playoffs start now, the difference between playing a three seed and a four seed is tremendous. That region (region 2) is tough, they’re good”.
Tilson has scouted Cosby and says, “They run a defense much like ours with a three-linebacker set and on offense they have some playmakers. Number six is their go to guy when they need yards and number three is also a threat too, we’re going to have to be very disciplined on defense to stop these guys. Our community has been good to us, just as local businesses, churches, the media and all the fans and we’ll continue to make them proud. If you want to see two teams go at it, lay it all on the line, then this is the game for you!”
The kickoff is set for 7p.m. in Baileyton on a cool November Friday night under the lights at the Tundra. Neither school has ever won the conference title, so this one should be a good one. If you can’t make it out to the game, you’ve got no worries, it will be streamed live by Grassroots Media.
