On homecoming night North Greene dethroned the defending Region 1-1A champions and made a proclamation that they will once again be in contention for the conference crown by taking down Cosby 35-19.
North Greene Head Coach Eric Tilson said, “It was a big game last year, but now our kids have been in a lot of big games and we know how to handle it. I thought they really stepped up and did a great job tonight, we knew our goals coming in and we knew this was a game we had to win.”
The Huskies got on the scoreboard first when David Baker was separated from the football and Brandon Weems scooped it up and raced untouched 32 yards for the touchdown. Juan Soto added the point after touchdown for the 7-0 lead at the 4:51 mark of the first quarter.
The first quarter ended with the Huskies on top with that same score of 7-0 but the the Eagles were on the move. Then Cosby’s starting quarterback, Matthew McMahan, was injured on the play and did not return.
Gage McCarty stepped in at quarterback and tossed a six-yard touchdown pass to River Shropshire just a few plays later. Caleb Gomez added the PAT to tie the score with just over eight minutes remaining in the half.
Thomas Darnell had two big runs of 25 and 18 yards respectively to get the Huskies in the red zone. But on fourth and five from the seven-yard line Darnell was stopped short, and the Huskies turned the ball over on downs.
To make matters worse for the Eagles McCarty was shaken up on the play while playing defense.
A direct snap to Baker caught the Huskies off guard and Baker went around the right side for a big gain of 35 yards. Without a quarterback under center the Eagles went to a wildcat formation and moved quickly into Husky territory and eventually into the end zone with Baker doing most of the work, including scoring the touchdown. The extra point was blocked but Cosby went to halftime leading 13-7.
Late in the third quarter Darnell came up with another big defensive play for North Greene. McCarty was back in the game and threw up a pass into double coverage that Darnell came down with. He weaved his way through traffic 43 yards to the endzone for the pick-six.
On the extra point the Huskies used a little deception and lined up in a variation of the swinging gate. The deception worked and Darnell found Brandon Weems in the middle of the end zone for the two-point conversion that gave North Greene a 15-13 lead with 3:09 showing on the clock in the third quarter.
Both teams had drives that ended with turn over on downs before the Huskies forced another fumble with Matthew Boyd recovering the fumble.
Two plays later Brayden Weems broke loose up the middle for a 66-yard touchdown run. Soto split the uprights to give the Huskies a two-score lead at 22-13 with 7:42 to play in the game.
The Eagles fumbled the ensuing kickoff and it was recovered by the Huskies Brandon Weems. Two plays later Darnell hit Kelson Eastep in stride for 35-yard scoring strike. Soto’s kick was true and the Huskies had a 16-point lead at 29-13 with just under six minutes to play.
Cosby had the ball near midfield with still a glimmer of hope in sight, but Colten Suggs came up with a strip sack and the fumble recovery.
The Huskies only need to grind out a few first downs to end the game, but Leon Johnson had other ideas. Johnson took the handoff from Darnell and ran through the defense for a 31-yard touchdown.
A high snap prevented the PAT from being attempted but the game was well in hand for the Huskies.
The Eagles did return the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown but the game ended with the score 35-19.
Tilson praised his defense saying, “I was real pleased with our defense, they did a great job responding and kept us in the ball game in the first half.”
He also praised the running game saying, “I knew our run game was gonna be big this week, it all starts up front with the offensive line. They put this game on their back and took on the challenge. I knew at some point it was going to break wide open and we were finally able to break through”.
The Huskies had two 100 yard rushers, Darnell ran the ball 11 times for 113 yards while Brayden Weems had 106 yards on nine carries and a score. Darnell also tossed touchdown pass as well as a 2-point conversion pass.
It was Homecoming for North Greene and Carly Rosenbalm was crowned Homecoming Queen before the game.
North Greene avenged last year’s loss to Cosby with a 35-19 win in Baileyton tonight to put Region 1-1A on notice. Hear what Huskies Head Coach Eric Tilson had to say after the win. pic.twitter.com/AsyiEPiPZS
— GreeneSportsZone (@GSportsZone) September 20, 2025
