Thursday night was historic for Greene County athletics.
The TSSAA unanimously voted to sanction lacrosse as an official high school sport on January 19, 2023. The sport began last year in the 2024-25 season and on Thursday night, March 5, 2026, lacrosse was hosted in Greene County for the first time as a sanctioned sport.
South Greene suffered a 16-0 loss to Science Hill in their first home game on Thursday night at Camp Creek.
South Greene serves as the lead team and co-ops with Chuckey-Doak and Greeneville. Austin Wallace, a graduate of nearby Tusculum University and former Pioneer lacrosse player, serves as the team’s inaugural head coach.
Dr. Daniel Lewis was a driving force in helping lacrosse reach Greene County. The Greene County Board of Education supported Lewis’ request for a team in Greene County, and the process of bringing Lacrosse to Greene County began.
“It was great. This has been in the making for three years or four years. Even longer than that. We have a club team, GLC, that started this program. And finally, South Greene took us in. It took a few years, but we finally got here,” Wallace mentioned.
The Rebels 2026 games are being held at Camp Creek Elementary School. Coach Wallace explained the feeling of seeing years of progress culminate on Thursday night.
“It’s super cool. It’s a surreal feeling. Going from a club team and struggling to find a field to play on to now being out here and having our own home. It feels good. Something that Greene County has needed for a while,” Wallace said.
Science Hill controlled the inaugural home match and rained on South Greene’s parade. William Deakins scored the first-ever goal on a Greene County pitch at the 10:20 mark in the first quarter.
The Rebels played defense well until the Hilltoppers scored three goals in a one-minute and 15-second time frame. Zane Goring scored with 4:09 left, Parker Nelson scored with 3:42 left, and Andrew Lamb scored with 2:54 left. Nelson scored the last goal of the quarter as the clock hit triple zeros. Science Hill led 5-0 after one.
The lead grew to 9-0 at the half. Andrew Lamb scored 15 seconds into the quarter and secured a hat trick with his third goal with 8:25 left to lead 7-0. John Eilers scored at the 5:47 mark and Lamb scored at the 5:06 mark.
Science Hill scored five more in the third. Corey Thomas scored with 9:22 left and Andrew Lamb scored his fifth goal only 16 seconds later. Lamb secured a “double hatty” or “sock trick” with his sixth goal with 5:45 left in the quarter. The lead was 12-0 and the 12-goal mercy rule was in effect. Parker Nelson became the second Hilltopper with a hat trick with his third goal. Zane Goring scored the final of the quarter. Science Hill led 14-0 after three.
Jake Philbrick and Henry Wells scored the final goals in the fourth.
South Greene suffered a 16-0 loss to Science Hill in Thursday night’s historic matchup.
“We’re a growing team and a growing sport in East Tennessee. We’re getting there and this is a start. All of the fellas are coming together and working hard together,” Wallace stated.
South Greene will be searching for the first goal on their home pitch when they host Dobyns-Bennett on Tuesday, March 10 at 7:00 PM.
