All offseason and throughout the season North Greene football coach Eric Tilson has been clear that his team’s goal this year is to win the program’s first playoff.
On Friday night that opportunity will be in front of the Huskies when Oliver Springs visits the Tundra in the first round of the Class 1A Playoffs.
“Our goal all year has been to win a playoff game, but we have a very tough task in front of us,” Tilson said. “Oliver Springs is a very good program. We have to come ready to play on Friday night to reach that goal. But we are at home, and that gives us a shot. I hope people will turn out to see some history, and we are going to need as much support as we can get.”
Oliver Springs enters the game with a 6-4 record and as the No.3 seed from Region 2-1A. That is off the pace from recent Bobcats’ seasons, but Tilson knows that this will still be a tough team to beat.
Oliver Springs won 10 games in both 2023 and 2024 and advanced to the state semifinals in 2023. The Bobcats also beat North Greene 48-0 in the first round of the playoffs in 2023.
Tilson knows it will take his team’s best effort on Friday night, but he believes he has the right group to make history.
“If we play well we can go out and pull of the upset. That would be huge for this program, and I know that our kids are hungry to do that,” Tilson said. “We have the ability to go do that, but we have to execute and we have to play well. We’re excited about the opportunity, and anytime you get to play playoff football it’s a good thing.”
The Bobcats will be led by running back Jaxon Jett who can make big plays as a runner and receiver. In the regular season he ran for 939 yards and 10 touchdowns and had 866 receiving yards with nine more scores.
Oliver Springs has hit a rough patch in the late portion of the year, losing three of its last four games. Last week the Bobcats fell to Region 2-1A champion Coalfield 48-7. For perspective Coalfield started the playoffs on Thursday with a 51-6 win over Cloudland.
Oliver Springs is averaging 29 points per game on offense while allowing 21 points per game.
North Greene is also 6-4 entering the postseason and is the No.2 seed from Region 1-1A. That is tied for the most wins in the regular season, and North Greene’s seniors are tied for the most wins in a four-year span with 17. A win on Friday would break both of those records.
North Greene’s offense has scored 154 points in the last three weeks, and is averaging 34 points per game. Defensively the Huskies are allowing 29 points per game.
Last week in a 49-24 win over Unaka Brandon Weems led the way with three touchdowns, two receiving and one rushing, on a night where the starting offense was on the field for nine plays. The Huskies will need another strong effort from him, as well as running backs Brayden Weems and Leon Johnson and quarterback Thomas Darnell. The Huskies will also rely on Blake Hurd and Owen Pierce to once again pave the way up front.
“It’s going to take our guys having an extra edge about them. It is going to take and extra level of effort. The stakes are higher now. This could be the last game for our seniors, and we need them to leave everything on the field,” Tilson said.
