It will be Thursday night lights this week for North Greene as the Huskies hit the road to take on Unaka in the final game of the regular season.
Both North Greene and Unaka have been eliminated from the playoffs, but pride is still on the line as seniors will take the field for the final time.
“It’s going to be two team that give everything they have, because it’s the last game,” North Greene coach Eric Tilson said. “For these six seniors it’s their last opportunity to go compete in the green and gray. We’ve talked about the price of success and the price of regret, and told them how important it is to leave everything out there on the field. They have 48 minutes of football left and I want them to leave knowing that they did not have anything left to give.”
The Huskies will be working on a short week and have had to make adjustments to the schedule after defeating Sunbright 58-20 last week. Tilson does not like being thrown out of his weekly routine, but knows that the team that handles the adjustments best will have an advantage when the game kicks off.
“The short week makes us prioritize what is important,” Tilson said. “But we have been able to plan far in advance for this. Football is about rhythm and you hate to throw that rhythm of the week off. A lot of these games come down to who handles the adjustments of the week best.”
Unaka comes into the game with a 0-9 record, but Tilson believes they have an offense that can cause some problems. The Rangers have found success in the pass game, and in particular the Huskies will have to be aware of the screen schemes.
Quarterback Jacob Carrier leads the way with over 1,600 passing yards and 14 touchdowns, but he has also thrown 12 interceptions this season. Ashton Fuller has 866 receiving yards with seven touchdowns. The Rangers average just 38 yards per game on the ground.
“They do a great job at screens, they have some really good skill guys and overall have a good passing game. They are a spread team and they can make plays. They will get guys open,” Tilson said.
North Greene is coming off its biggest scoring night in school history, and its passing game was a big reason why. Quarterback Jared Swatzell threw for over 200 yards and found Matthew Boyd, Kelson Eastep and Levi Gray for touchdowns.
Leon Johnson has been the steady force on offense, and now he has over 1,100 yards with 10 touchdowns on the year.
A year ago, North Greene won the matchup 49-24 and have won three straight in the series. Unaka leads the all-time series 27-22.
Kickoff on Thursday is set for 7 PM in Stoney Creek.
