South Greene (3-5, 0-2) embarks on a three-game road stretch starting Friday night as the Rebels hit the highway for a matchup with the Eagleton Royals (4-3, 1-1).
It’s the fourth all-time meeting in the short-lived series. It’s Eagleton’s fourth year as a varsity program, but the short-lived series has seen nothing but battles with every game decided by 14 points or less. Eagleton was originally placed in Region 1 with South Greene and the first pair of games featured playoff implications. Since then, Eagleton has moved to Region 2 and although the games mean less you can still expect the Royals to bring it.
“A young football program who just got started a few years ago. A really good football program. We beat them last year here and they ended up getting a pretty good draw as far as the playoffs and played in the semifinals against the team who put us out (Marion County). Coach Childs and his staff do a great job down there. We joke and laugh a lot of times with Coach Childs and talk to him throughout the year. He does a great job down there and Eagleton is very fortunate to have him down there,” South Greene Defensive Coach Joe Case said.
South Greene leads the series with a 3-0 record. The Rebels have not visited Eagleton since the very first matchup in 2023. The game was won on a clutch defensive stop on a late two-point conversion attempt by Eagleton. South Greene won last year’s battle on Rebel Hill, 27-13.
Both teams are entering Friday’s game looking to turn things around before the postseason. The Rebels have lost three-straight while the Royals have lost two of the last three. South Greene has been bitten by the injury bug one too many times this year and are walking, or hobbling, into Friday’s matchup with multiple holes in the depth chart from what it looked like in week one.
South Greene enters Friday night’s game looking to get back in the win column. After last month’s overtime win at Chuckey-Doak, the Rebels are winless and the season has not gone as planned. Senior Tripp Neas is battling injuries, senior Eli Fillers is out for the season, senior Shawn Ownby is out for the season, and the list continues.
The Rebels are led by sophomore quarterback Dawson Ripley with 741 yards and 5 touchdowns in 8 starts this season. Sophomore Trent Haynes has carried the load at running back in recent weeks and is up to 381 yards and 5 touchdowns on the season. Senior Simon Burns leads the team in all receiving categories with 12 receptions, 240 yards, and 2 touchdowns.
Eagleton features a plethora of athletic playmakers all over the field. Senior Noel Meza-Flores leads the team with 661 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns. The Royals are led by senior quarterback Mason Mitchell who has racked up 1,652 yards and 22 touchdowns in 7 games.
“Got some very good athletes. The wide receivers on the outside, Noel Meza-Flores and Tysen Dorsey, Kingston Burns-Jenkins makes some plays, quarterback Mason Mitchell is really good and can throw the ball well. Very athletic and in the past we’ve had trouble with athletic quarterbacks. So we’ve got to make sure we’re accounted for with him,” Coach Case explained.
South Greene is averaging 24.4 points per game on offense and allowing 26.1 points per game on defense. Eagleton is scoring 29.1 points per game and allowing 22.6 points per game on defense.
Coach Case detailed South Greene’s three keys to the game are to win the turnover battle, be physical, and do the big four; stance, alignment, assignment, and execution.
Kickoff is set for 7:00 PM at Eagleton College & Career Academy.
