The South Greene football team came close to knocking off Class 6A Morristown East in its season opener, but let the lead slip away in the fourth quarter.
This week the Rebels will step up in classification again and travel to Class 5A Daniel Boone looking for its first win of the season.
The Rebels were up 22-14 with 11 minutes left against the Hurricanes, but two fourth-quarter touchdowns turned the game around.
South Greene spent this week correcting what went wrong late and hoping to see some needed gains before Friday’s kickoff in Gray.
“We let one slip away,” South Greene coach Shawn Jones said. “We had a big school come in here and we played well, but we had some mistakes. We hope to see some big improvements this week.”
The Rebels are still hungry to find their first win of the 2025 season, but Daniel Boone is in search of its first win since September 29, 2023. The Trailblazers are on a 16-game losing streak.
In its season opener Daniel Boone fell to Volunteer 30-0. That ended a 24-game losing streak for the Falcons.
“We want that first win, and we know they are hungry for a win too,” Jones said. “We are 2A school they are a 5A school, when they put us on the schedule they are expecting a win. But we’ll play go up there expecting to play well, and if we play well we should come out with a win.”
South Greene will once again look to rely on its strong running led by tailback Tripp Neas and quarterback Nash Rader. A week ago both had a rushing touchdown, but Jones will be looking for better play out of his offensive line this week against the bigger Trailblazers.
Daniel Boone will rely on the power run game on Friday. A week again Dru Fleming carried the ball 18 times and averaged 3.8 yards per carry against Volunteer.
Jones expects lots runs between the tackles, while quarterback Ry Stone will keep it on occasion when running the option. Stone completed just 25 percent of his passes against Volunteer.
The Rebels and Trailblazers have met 13 times in their histories and Daniel Boone leads the all-time series 12-1. South Greene’s only win came in the first meeting in 1971, 35-24. In the last meeting, in 2022, Daniel Boone won 26-0.
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. in Gray. The game will be carried live on WIKQ – 103.1 FM.
