South Greene ended a 54-year long losing drought to Daniel Boone last Friday, and now it will load up the bus and head up to Mountain City on Friday for a date with the Johnson County Longhorns.
The South Greene Rebels are no stranger to Mountain City, no stranger to playing up in competition, and no stranger to picking up wins on the road with both of the previous two tied in. This will be South Greene’s third-straight game playing a higher classified team after starting with 6A Morristown East, 5A Daniel Boone, and now 3A Johnson County.
It will be South Greene’s first trip to Mountain City in 3 years, last visiting in 2022. The Rebels own the series lead with a 20-12 all-time record against Johnson County. The Rebels have won 11-straight dating back to 1992.
The only game that matters now though is Friday night. The last meeting between both opponents ended with South Greene scooping up a fortunate fumble and housing it for a late touchdown to win the game. The Rebels don’t want to be in that situation again in the final minutes of Friday’s contest.
“Johnson County is a bunch of hard-nosed kids. They always have been. I try to tell the kids they are kind of like us. Hard-nosed and up there in the mountain. It’s just tough sometimes to go up there and play. We’ve just got to go be prepared. We got lucky last time we were up there. We hope to have a better go at it this year when we go up there,” Rebels Head Coach Shawn Jones mentioned.
Coach Jones knows who is going to get the ball a lot on Friday night. Johnson County returns No. 1 Brayden Dickens at running back. His explosiveness and speed could cause problems if he finds an opening in the Rebels defense.
“He’s a lot to handle that we’re gonna have to put our eyes on. We told the kids this week if they’re gonna beat us, make it be somebody besides one. We know that one is going to be a strong kid to bring down and feel like we have to put the eggs in his basket to try to stop him,” Jones commented.
The Longhorns like to run off the edge and like to use their speed outside and don’t run between the tackles as much. South Greene’s speedy players on the edge will have a fun matchup to see who can win the battle out wide.
South Greene’s stats from Friday night’s win over Boone weren’t eye-popping numbers, but impressive to say the least. The Rebels got it done with 272 yards of total offense and all of it came on the ground. Nash Rader accumulated 213 yards and three touchdowns with Tripp Neas behind him providing 57 yards and a touchdown. The Longhorns know the two-headed monster waiting in South Greene’s backfield and the Rebels will stay with the running game and feed it to both of their main athletes.
For Coach Jones, his keys to winning on Friday night is to stop No. 1 & No. 12, score when they get the limited opportunities to, and win the special teams battle.
Kickoff is set for 7 PM at Johnson County High School on Friday night.
