The Greeneville football team will hit the road on Friday night looking to clinch a home playoff game by beating Region 1-4A foe Grainger.
The Greene Devils enter Friday’s game with an 8-0 record and are 5-0 in Region 1-4A. Grainger is 2-6 and 1-4 against league opponents.
“Grainger has a group of kids that are going to play hard,” Greeneville coach Eddie Spradlen said. “They don’t have a ton of wins, but they are in every game. We know these region games are important. In this league you need to win all of them to win that region championship. Our first goal is always to be Region 1-4A champs.”
With the playoffs approaching Greeneville is currently in the driver’s seat in Region 1-4A, but is tied with Elizabethton at 5-0. Seymour is 4-1 in league play and will meet Elizabethton on Friday.
If Elizabethton and Greeneville win on Friday it will set up a region championship game next week between the Greene Devils and the Cyclones. If Seymour beats Elizabethton and Greeneville beats Grainger the Devils would be guaranteed the No.1 seed in the playoffs regardless of the Greeneville versus Elizabethton outcome.
Grainger is out of the playoff hunt in Region 1-4A.
The Greene Devils expect to see a run-heavy attack from the Grizzlies with Colton Parrot leading that effort. Last week in a 49-22 loss to Unicoi County running back Brandon Church ran for 99 yards and two touchdowns.
“They want to line up and smash you,” Spradlen said. “The quarterback is going to run it more than probably any quarterback we have seen. If we don’t get in the right fits they have chance to break off the big ones.”
The Greene Devils will bring one of the most dangerous offenses in the state to the contest and that starts with the connection between quarterback Kaine Ricker and receiver Taren Claridy.
Through eight games Ricker has thrown for 2,125 yards with 26 touchdowns while completing 82.8 percent of his passes. Claridy has 50 catches for 1,265 yards and a school record 20 touchdowns.
Running back Jude Dyer ran for three touchdowns last week in a 49-14 win over Volunteer. That brought his season total to 10 scores.
Last year Greeneville beat the Grizzlies 70-13. Greeneville leads the all-time series with Grainger 18-0, and the game has never been close. Greeneville has never scored fewer than 35 points in the series and Grainger has never scored more than 16 points. The Devils average margin of victory is 50.9 points.
Kickoff for Friday is set for 7:30 PM in Rutledge. The game will be line on the airwaves on WGRV 99.5 FM.
