A sizable test awaits the Greeneville football team on Friday as it makes the long roadtrip to Baxter to take on Upperman in a battle Top-5 teams in Class 4A.
“This is a big-time matchup and it’s going to be a physical, knock-down-drag-out fight,” Greeneville coach Eddie Spradlen said. “It’s a been a rough-road to get to this point, and I don’t expect anything but a battle on Friday night. It’s going to take our best effort.”
In this week’s TSWA Class 4A Poll Greeneville came in ranked No.3 and the Bees were No.5.
Upperman is located almost three hours from Greeneville, west of Cookeville, and this will be the longest road trip the Greene Devils have taken since visiting Maplewood in the 2018 state semifinals. Spradlen stressed how important it would be for his team to take the travel day seriously and to come into the contest focused as if it were a home game.
“We’re going to see if we can handle the travel and the long day. We can’t let that affect us and how we perform,” Spradlen said.
The Bees started the season with a 21-20 win over Webb School of Knoxville. They used a run-heavy attack to get the job done, rushing 53 times for 292 yards while throwing four times for eight yards. Jude Fitzpatrick, a 195 lb. tailback, led that effort with 24 rushes for 138 yards. Gavin Frazier carried it 15 times for 113 yards.
The two backs will follow a big offensive line, and the Devils know that winning at the line of scrimmage and getting off the field on fourth down will be key on Friday.
Greeneville will rely on its linebacking corps to lead the effort to stop that powerful run game, and Jack Lister, Cole Smith, Ty Riban and Caleb Smith are coming off strong performances in week one.
“They are big. We have to control the line of scrimmage on both sides, or at least win our share,” Spradlen said. “They want to run the football and control the clock. It won’t be as much quarterback run as in the past, but they have two big backs that pound it behind that big offensive line. It will be a big-time challenge.”
Greeneville started its season last week with a 36-13 win over Morristown West. In that win senior Kaine Ricker had a remarkable first start at quarterback. He was 10-of-11 passing for 305 yards and three touchdowns, then on the ground he gained 32 yards and scored another touchdown.
“What a great game from Kaine,” Spradlen said. “He’s been waiting for this opportunity, he’s been the backup for two years. He’s played receiver and played defense, and on Friday he was ready to take on that role of quarterback.”
Ricker and the Devils will look to take advantages of mismatches on the perimeter on Friday. Last week Taren Claridy highlighted that effort with touchdown grabs of 60 and 70 yards. Zy Neal and Braylen Kidwell will be targets Greeneville counts on as well, and both made some big catches against the Trojans.
This will be third ever meeting between Greeneville and Upperman. They met in the 2023 state semifinals where Upperman prevailed 21-14. Last year Greeneville won the regular season matchup 41-33.
Kickoff is slated for 8 PM Eastern Time/ 7 PM Central Time. If you can’t make the drive to Middle Tennessee the game will be broadcast on 99.5 FM WGRV.
