The North Greene football team was firing on all cylinders on Thursday night as it blew by Castlewood, Virginia 42-6 for its first win of the season on homecoming night.
“We did a lot of things well tonight. We went out and did what we needed to do, we were able to execute what we wanted to tonight,” North Greene coach Eric Tilson said. “When you win it lets you forget about everything else. This group knows how to respond. We have a bad week last week, we had to look internally and see what needed to improve, and I feel like we did those things this week.”
The night started with Castlewood running eight minutes off the clock but settling for a punt. The Blue Devils earned 26 yards on their opening drive and finished the first half with 14 yards of total offense as the Huskies’ swarming defense shut down almost every play before it could get started.
When North Greene got the ball it marched 85 yards in 2:33 to earn the first points of the night. The big play on the drive was a screen to Brandon Weems that was sprung on a block by Jake Duffy and covered 34 yards up the left sideline.
Yeshua Vaught followed it with a 15-yard run off tackle to the left, and then he ran in the opening score from six yards. Duffy ran in the two-point conversion for an 8-0 lead with 1:25 left in the first quarter.
Freshman kicker Juan Soto pinned the Blue Devils on the 10-yard line on the ensuing kickoff and after a three and out Castlewood botched the snap on the punt. Punter Gabe Jones was able to narrowly escape the endzone to prevent a safety, but just barely.
Soto, a new addition to the lineup kicked with precision on Friday and forced the Blue Devils to start inside the 25-yard line five times.
After two pre-snap penalties North Greene needed just one play to add to its lead when Darnell ran around the corner to the right for a five-yard touchdown that made 14-0 just 31 seconds into the second quarter.
North Greene’s next score came with 4:34 left in the first half. Darnell and Duffy hooked up four times on the drive. The biggest was a 33-yard gain on third and 18 where Duffy ran a go route up the home sideline and went over the defender before finishing at the two-yard line.
On the next snap Vaught powered across the goal line for his second score of the night and Darnell ran in the two-point try for a 22-0 lead.
North Greene scored one more time before the first half ended. The drive covered 45 yards and finished when Darnell hit Duffy on a six-yard slant with 30 seconds on the clock. Darnell ran in the two-point try for a 30-0 lead going into intermission.
Darnell finished the first half 13-of-14 passing for 165 yards with one touchdown. After playing one series in the second half he finished 14-of-18 for 167 yards. Duffy had seven catches for 77 yards and a touchdown, and Brandon Weems had four catches for 62 yards.
“Thomas is starting to settle down when the lights come on,” Tilson said. “He is starting to understand that you aren’t going to see the same thing every week. It’s hard to play quarterback, and we are asking a lot of him. He did a really good job tonight. He was the point guard of our offense, and he distributed it well tonight.”
Castlewood’s only offensive success of the night came on its first possession of the second half. Quarterback Brayden Houchins hit Kaleb Taylor on a 60-yard post route that closed the gap to 30-6.
North Greene’s second unit offense took the field on the next series and did not miss a beat. Running back Leon Johnson picked up 53 yards on a sprint up the left side before he finished the drive with a three-yard touchdown.
Freshman quarterback Jared Swatzell finished the night’s scoring with 4:09 left to play when he went around the corner to the left on a read option and covered 13-yards on his way to the endzone.
“I’m really proud of our young guys,” Tilson said. “That might have been my favorite part of tonight, seeing them go down and score twice. Especially seeing Jared score there at the end. That was one of our base plays. He read it perfectly and was out of the gate. That’s what we want to see.”
On the ground Vaught ran eight times on Friday for 42 yards with two touchdowns. Johnson had two carries for 56 yards and another score. As a team North Greene ran for 175 yards, and the Huskies finished Friday with 348 yards of total offense.
North Greene’s defense held the Blue Devils to 127 yards of total offense, 60 of those yards came on the touchdown pass.
Friday was homecoming at North Greene and prior to the game Sirinity Cutshall was crowned homecoming queen.
Nex the Huskies move into Region 1-1A action and they will travel to Jellico next week.
“If we just go execute we’ll be successful, and I’m really pleased with guys heading into region play,” Tilson said. “Now important games begin. Not that this game wasn’t important, but next week matters as far as goals we have for this season. We’ll have to make a long trip to play in what has become a pretty bitter rivalry.”
