MOUNTAIN CITY – South Greene carried last week’s momentum with them to Mountain City and used explosive plays to leave Johnson County with a 44-10 victory over the Longhorns on Friday night.
“I’m so proud of these guys. We got banged up a little bit and the next guy stepped up. That’s what we ask these guys to do. We just played real hard, physical football and that’s what we want to do,” Head Coach Shawn Jones mentioned.
It was another solid night for South Greene in the rushing department. Nash Rader opened with the first, but a trio of house calls for Tripp Neas and a first for Trent Haynes made for a nightmare rushing attack that Johnson County couldn’t handle.
“The two we got back there are really great, but again I did them wrong last week and I want to shout out my line. They had to do a great job to get those guys open and they did,” Jones commented.
The win serves as South Greene’s 12th-consecutive over Johnson County and helps them improve to 2-1 on the season. The Longhorns fall to 1-2.
South Greene wasted no time putting points up on their first drive. As effective as it was last week, the Rebels put the ball in Nash Rader’s hands and let him run wild with the rock. He bounced it outside for a 73-yard rushing touchdown to send the Rebels ahead 7-0 with 8:19 left in the first.
On their next possession they decided to pass it outside to Tripp Neas with blockers waiting for him on a screen pass. The speedy junior used his vision and perfect blocking to race into the end zone for a 21-yard touchdown. South Greene led 14-0 with 3:18 left in the first.
“It all starts up front. Our line was communicating well and blocking well and the gaps were open. I was hitting the cutbacks. That’s what happens when your line blocks,” Neas said.
South Greene couldn’t pick up a new set of downs on its next drive drive and was forced to punt. Things did not go as planned and the snap sailed past punter Brant Wilhoit. He made the smart move to kick it out of the back of the end zone and only surrender two points on a safety.
South Greene’s lead was cut to 14-2 with 9:21 in the second.
The Longhorns smelled blood in the water and wanted to take a shot downfield. Defensive back Shawn Ownby had the receiver covered all the way and intercepted the pass to give South Greene the ball back.
Three and-a-half minutes later Neas found the end zone again with an 18-yard rush through the tackles and across the chalk. The Rebels led 20-2 with 4:46 to go in the half.
Once again the Longhorns decided to go deep with it along their own sideline again and the Rebels came away with another takeaway. Angel Sanchez was there to intercept it in the end zone.
South Greene went into the locker room leading 20-2 at the half.
After giving up two on a safety, the Rebels got it back by forcing Johnson County to commit a hold in the end zone that resulted in a safety and put South Greene ahead 22-2 with 7:09 left in the third.
It didn’t take long for them to reach the end zone again. Only 55 seconds later to be exact. Charlie Lane caught a screen pass out wide and used sneaky speed to race 70 yards to a touchdown. Rader plunged in for the two-point conversion. South Greene led 30-2 in the third.
With exactly three minutes to go in the third Neas found open grass and raced 61 yards for his third touchdown of the night. The Rebels were ahead 37-2.
Johnson County would strike back with a 58-yard touchdown to trim South Greene’s lead to 37-10.
The Rebels entered the fourth quarter with the ball and slowly chipped away at the clock and yardage. Freshman Trent Haynes picked up most of the yardage on their final drive and scored his first career touchdown on a varsity field with a five-yard run with 8:05 to go.
On the final drive of the game, South Greene’s stiff defense turned the Longhorns away inside the 10-yard line and denied them a late touchdown.
South Greene kneeled it out and picked up a 44-10 win when it was all set and done.
“It’s just great to get out of here with this W tonight against a good Johnson County team,” Jones stated.
The Rebels return back home and host North Greene next Friday night at 7:00 PM. It will be our Bachman Bernard GSZ Game of the Week Presented by Tommie’s Plumbing.
“We’re ready. We’d play tonight if we could that’s just the way we are. We’ve got North Greene coming in next week. They got a good ball club. We hadn’t played them in two years, so come on out to Rebel Hill next week and we’ll see what happens against North Greene,” Coach Jones left off with.
South Greene left Johnson County with a 44-10 win on Friday night to go 2-1 on the young season. Hear from Head Coach Shawn Jones and how the Rebels were able to bring home a dominant W. pic.twitter.com/eHP3NA6wL0
— GreeneSportsZone (@GSportsZone) September 6, 2025
South Greene’s Tripp Neas (@NeasTripp) found the end zone three times in Johnson County on Friday night to help the Rebels bring home a 44-10 win over the Longhorns. Hear from him and how he was able to run so effectively. pic.twitter.com/9WjRjktibu
— GreeneSportsZone (@GSportsZone) September 6, 2025
