MAYNARDVILLE – For the third week in a row South Greene’s offense was explosive and the defense was stifling, this time resulting in a 42-6 win on the road over Union County.
“We started a little slow, and sometimes its tough to get going when you know you are going into a game against a team that is struggling,” South Greene coach Shawn Jones said. “We finally got things going, and got the job done to get the W.”
Over the last three weeks South Greene has outscored its opponents 142-20, but things will get tougher over the second half of the season with the meat of the Rebels’ Region 1-2A slate ahead. They still have West Greene, Eagleton, Happy Valley and Hampton still to play, along with a pair of 4A teams in Seymour and Grainger.
“There are not going to be anymore games like the last couple have been,” Jones said. “We have to start playing better and that starts next week with West Greene. We are going to have to be more focused in practice, because you play like you practice. This conference is wide open and we feel like we can win it.”
The Rebels spread the ball around on offense on Friday led by quarterback Jacob Susong who was 9-of-11 passing for 183 yards with three touchdowns to three different receivers.
“It was great to see that out of Susong. We know going down the road that we are going to have to throw the ball. It was great to see that kind of production. We have a lot of guys that can make plays, we just have to keep getting them the ball,” Jones said.
Nash Rader led South Greene on the ground, carrying the ball 17 times for 165 yards and two scores. Tripp Neas had 34 yards on five carries with a rushing touchdown and a receiving touchdown to go with two sacks on defense.
South Greene only needed one minute to find the endzone for the first time. After Rader returned the opening kickoff 37 yards he broke off a 39-yard run down the right boundary. One play later Neas went up the middle for an eight-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead.
Union County was able to answer on its first drive of the night. The Patriots marched 73-yards in nine plays. Gary Clark looked bottled up for a loss, but he spun out of the pile for a 38-yard pickup. Quarterback Brayden Beasley then finished the drive on a one-yard sneak. The two-point try failed and South Greene held on to a 7-6 lead with 5:14 left in the first quarter.
South Greene’s defense got better as the game went on, and only allowed 55 yard the rest of the night.
“We had a couple of brain farts and missed assignments, once we got those fixed those we were fine,” Jones said. “We’ve been lights out on defense, and after one bad series we were back to doing that.”
The first quarter ended with South Greene clinging to a 7-6 lead, but in the second quarter it exploded for four touchdowns.
The Rebels got on the board again with 9:37 left in the second quarter, this time Susong hit Neas coming out of the backfield and the sophomore plowed over a defender at the pylon for a 14-6 advantage.
South Greene quickly got the ball back when Colton Silvers jumped on a fumble. Two plays later Susong found Jeff Dotson behind the defense on a seam route that covered 45-yard and put the Rebels in front 21-6.
On the Rebels’ next drive Susong and a Charlie Lane made a little magic happen. On third down it looked like South Greene was going to take a big loss when the snapped sailed over the quarterback’s head. Susong picked up the loose ball, scrambled to his left and sent a pass deep to Lane who sprinted up the sideline before being pushed out of bounds after a 65-yard gain.
Rader finished the drive with a one-yard run up the middle.
Using its timeouts wisely South Greene got one more scoring opportunity before halftime and in 30 second the Rebels covered 42 yards to score with 45 seconds left before intermission. Trey Gentry found the endzone on a 32-yard reception that started as a quick pass to the flat before being sprung by a good block from Lane.
South Greene went to halftime leading 35-6.
In the third quarter Rader ran in a 24-yard touchdown that increased the Rebels lead to 42-4.
South Greene finished the night 378 yards of total offense and held Union Couty to 133 total yards. Placekicker Brant Wilhoit was a perfect 7-for-7 on extra points for South Greene.
