It’s time for the game every Greene Devil fan has had circled on their calendar since August. It’s the final week of the regular season and on Thursday night Elizabethton will travel to Burley Stadium to take on Greeneville for the Region 1-4A championship.
“It’s a big-time game, it’s for all the marbles,” Greeneville coach Eddie Spradlen said. “Our number one goal every year is a Region 1-4A championship, that is what sets you up for the best path in the playoffs. That’s what we have on the line on Thursday night.”
The winner of this game has decided the Region 1-4A championship every year since 2017 when Elizabethton moved up from Class 3A. Greeneville is 6-2 in those regular season meetings. The Greene Devils have won the last three meetings between the two schools, with Elizabethton’s last win coming in the third round of the 2021 playoffs. Last year Greeneville won 41-7. The Cyclones lead the all-time series 43-37 going back to 1924.
This year both teams come into the game with 8-1 records. Elizabethton’s lone blemish came in week one to Science Hill, and Greeneville’s only loss is to defending Class 5A state champion Sevier County.
“It’s two 8-1 football teams that will be getting after each other. But throw the records out the window,” Spradlen said. “This will be two hard-nosed football teams going at each other. I expect a four-quarter game and we’ll have to see how it ends. This is going to be a good one.”
The Cyclones enter the game coming off a 42-14 win over Seymour and they have scored 30 or more points in six straight games. Last week that effort was led by running back C.J. Mathes who carried 16 times for 119 yards with three touchdowns. Freshman quarterback Brycen Blevins will be another player the Greene Devils have to keep track of, and just two weeks ago against Sullivan East he was 18-of-21 for 252 yards and four touchdowns.
“They have three kids running the football really hard,” Spradlen said. “They lost their quarterback a few weeks ago, but they have freshman that is playing really well. They have a good offensive line and one of the better receivers in the region as well.”
Greeneville also brings a high-powered offense into the game and in recent weeks that has been led by Caden Baugh and Zaydyn Anderson lighting up the scoreboard in the passing game. The duo are both having Mr. Football caliber seasons, but with the potential of rain in the forecast Spradlen knows it will be important to get running backs Maddox Bishop, Jude Dyer and Teagan Begley going on Thursday.
“We have to win the line of scrimmage on offense. With the potential for rain we have to be able to run the football even if they load the box. We feel like we have a really good offensive line, and they have to show up on Thursday,” Spradlen said.
Last week Greeneville beat Grainger 70-13 and the Devils come into Thursday averaging 48.7 points per game.
The winner of Thursday’s game will be at home in the playoffs all the way to the semifinals as long as they keep winning. The loser could potentially host Anderson County in the first round of the playoff and then have to travel to Chattanooga for the second round. The winner will host the loser of Carter and Gibbs in the first round of the playoffs.
Kickoff for Thursday’s game is set for 7:30 p.m. The game will be live on the airwaves as always on WGRV 99.5 FM.
