West Greene will travel to North Greene this week for some Thursday night rivalry action.
Both teams are looking for their first win of the young season after the Huskies fell to Chuckey-Doak 39-30 in week one and the Buffaloes fell to Cosby 34-7.
“There were still things from last week that give us hope that we are still going to be a very good football team. We were not good last week, we had a let down on Friday. We have stuff we need to correct before this week. But there were also bright spots that we need to build on,” North Greene coach Eric Tilson said.
A year ago North Greene jumped out to a 16-0 lead against the Buffaloes, but West Greene rallied to claim a 32-16 win. West Greene coach Evan Monroe expects another exciting battle on Thursday, and believes the team that plays the cleanest game will emerge victorious.
“This is going to be tough game,” Monroe said. “Last year we fell behind 16-0 and had to scrape our way back into it. I expect another knock-down-drag-out fight this year. I feel like we match up fairly well with them, but we’ll have to see what happens when the lights come on. I think the team that plays the cleanest game will probably win.”
West Greene has won 18 straight meetings with the Huskies going all the way back to 2007. The Buffaloes lead the all-time series 37-9 and West Greene has more wins over North Greene than any other program.
North Greene is looking for its first win over a cross-county foe since 2014.
The Huskies will bring a dangerous offense into the contest led by veteran quarterback Thomas Darnell. A week ago Darnell threw three touchdown passes, two went to Kelson Eastep and the other was an 80-yard bomb to Brandon Weems. Brayden Weems also had a kickoff return for a touchdown.
Tilson knows that Buffaloes have a formidable defense and that he will have to count on his offensive line to give his playmakers a chance.
“We’re going to go up against a physical team,” Tilson said. “They are good up front. They have great mike linebacker who gets in there and makes plays. Then they have some really good corners. They had two picks last and should have had three. So we have to be aware of where they are on defense.”
West Greene only managed seven points last week against Cosby, but it was a highlight reel catch by Peyton Hilton on a perfect throw from Austin Brown. Unfortunately for the Buffaloes too many little mistakes kept the offense from clicking, and that is something Monroe is focused on fixing before heading to Baileyton on Thursday.
Both teams will be looking to get the bad taste of a disappointing loss out of their mouths. They will have the opportunity to do it a day early with kickoff scheduled for 7 p.m. on Thursday at North Greene.
The matchup between the Buffaloes and Huskies is this week’s Greene Sports Zone game of the week and will be broadcast on the Greene Sports Zone Facebook page and YouTube channel, as well as the Radio Greeneville Facebook page.
