If you blinked for too long on Friday night you might have missed Greeneville scoring a touchdown as the quick-strike Greene Devils used less than a minute to score six of their eight touchdowns in a 56-21 win over Northview Academy.
“To be honest we probably should have scored 70, but overall the offense played really well,” Greeneville coach Eddie Spradlen said. “We showed a little rust at times after a two week off, but our playmakers made some plays. We can be very explosive, and we just have get the ball to those guys and let them do something with it.”
With the win Greeneville improves to 6-2 and 4-0 in Region 1-4A play, and that sets up clash against Elizabethton (6-2, 5-0) next week with the Region 1-4A championship on the line.
“The biggest game we have all year is coming up, and we are ready to go,” Spradlen says. “It’s going to come down to who wants it more. They are going to play with the best effort they have given all year, and we have to match that. Our goal for year is to be region champs and we have that opportunity now.”
The Devils scored 2.13 points per offensive snap in the first half on Friday as they ran just 23 plays before intermission. In that time they averaged 11.8 yards per play and had scoring drive of 59 seconds, 42 seconds, 36 seconds, nine seconds, 32 seconds and six seconds.
The Greene Devils fast-scoring offense started on its first series of the night. On the Devils’ third offensive snap quarterback Caden Baugh booted to his left and saw a lot of open space in front of him. He tucked the ball and broke to the middle of the field where he darted through the defense on his way to a 41-yard score. The drive took 59 seconds off the clock.
The next Devils’ scoring drive was even faster, needing just two plays and 42 second to find the endzone. This time Jeriah Griffin went up the seam from the slot on the left and burned everyone in the Cougars’ secondary before stretching out his arms and making a fingertips grab. He was in the endzone 62 yards later and the Devils led 14-0 with 6:42 left in the first quarter.
With 10 minutes left in the second quarter Greeneville got going again. This time Carson Quillen took a handoff to the left and raced up the boundary for a 34-yard touchdown. The drive took two plays and 36 seconds.
Griffin scored again with 6:28 left in the first half when Baugh zipped a screen pass to the right and the speedy receiver beat the defense to the pylon for an 18-yard score.
The Defense, which to this point in the game had not given up a first down, got in on the scoring action with 5:18 left in the first half. Cougars’ quarterback Mason Phillips tried to sneak a pass to Harper Stomm, but Zaydyn Anderson jumped the out route and first dislodged the ball. He then grabbed the carom and raced 21 yards for a touchdown.
On the ensuing kickoff and handful of Greene Devils met Calvin Ferguson simultaneously and knocked the ball loose. Hayden Moore pounced on it at the Northview 10-yard line.
Two plays later Quillen scored a four-yard touchdown by powering through the defense and Greeneville led 42-0 with 4:38 left in the first half.
Through Northview’s first eight offensive possessions Greeneville’s defense stopped the Cougars on downs before they gained a first down six times, and forced two turnovers. To that point in the game Northview had been held to 16 total yards of offense.
“We played really good defensively. In the first half we played about as well as we could have played, except for one drive,” Spradlen said. “Our starters gave up seven points. They got us over the top when we subbed some guys out, but overall I’m really proud of that defensive effort.”
With 3:47 left in the first half the Cougars earned their first first down. They put together a 76-yard drive that was helped by a pair of pass interference penalties, and the drive finished with Javier Wharton running into the endzone from four yards away.
Taren Claridy quickly put Greeneville in front 49-7 when he fielded a short kickoff on the left side and cut across the field to the right before racing past every Cougar for a 79-yard kickoff return touchdown.
On the first play of the second half Quillen broke off a 60-yard run, but it was called back on a hold. Quillen was undeterred and added to the Devils’ lead with a 38-yard touchdown run in which he broke free by lowering his shoulder and putting a Northview linebacker on his back.
Quillen finished the night with 160 yards on 13 carries and scored three touchdowns.
Phillips, Northview’s star quarterback, stayed in the game until the final horn and threw two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter on Greeneville’s reserves to set the final margin at 56-21.
Northview finished the night with 221 yards of total offense, 150 of those yards came in the second half.
Greeneville produced 371 yards of total offense. Baugh was 7-of-9 through the air for 139 yards with two scores and he ran for 47 yards with another touchdown. Griffin had three catches for 79 yards with two touchdowns.
