South Greene will host Johnson County on Thursday night in a battle of two teams looking to earn their first win of the season.
The Rebels have started the season with losses to Class 6A Morristown East and Class 5A Daniel Boone, but their goals are still in front of them and they will hope to get moving in the right direction against the Longhorns.
“Everything that we want to accomplish is still in front of us,” South Greene coach Shawn Jones said. “We have the county teams coming up, we want to win the conference championship. Those goals are still out there. We’re not jumping off the ship yet, we know we have an opportunity to be a good team.”
A week ago the Rebels fell to Daniel Boone 21-14 and fell to 0-2 on the year.
Johnson County also started the year 0-2, falling to Sullivan East 41-0 and Hampton 58-6.
A year ago South Greene won in Mountain City 44-10. South Greene leads the all-time series 21-12 going back to 1971. The Rebels have won 12 in a row in the series going back to 1992.
“We are going to have to bring our ‘A’ game and if we bring our ‘A’ game I think we will be fine,” Jones said. “They are going to come in here and play hard. You know Johnson County is always going to be hard-nosed team, and over the years South Greene has gotten into some battles with them.”
Longhorns will bring a run-heavy attack to Rebel Hill on Thursday, looking to grind out yards in power formations. Through two games they have run for 131 yards on 63 carries. Brayden Dickens leads that effort with 126 yards and the team’s lone touchdown.
Quarterback Brock Jones has thrown for 131 yards while completing 46 percent of his passes with two interceptions.
South Greene will also rely on its run game on Thursday with Tripp Neas leading the way. Neas has run for 190 yards on 35 carries through two games. He has spent time as a both a traditional tailback and wildcat quarterback.
In the passing game Jones feels his sophomore quarterback Dawson Ripley is progressing every week, and as he comes along the more success the coach expects the Rebels to find.
Ripley had thrown for 159 yards and two touchdowns through the early portion of the season, but he is completing 34 percent of his passes.
Kickoff for Thursday’s contest is set for 7:30 PM. The game will be broadcast live on WIKQ 103.1 FM.
