The South Greene football team did nearly everything right on Friday night as they wowed the home crowd on the way to a 58-14 win over cross-county rival Chuckey-Doak in the 50th meeting between the two schools.
“I feel like we played an all-around good game,” South Greene coach Shawn Jones said. “Chuckey-Doak is young, and I have been in the same spot they are in right now, but it feels good to get the win. The first group did what they needed to early on, and a lot of guys did good things. We’re always excited to get a big win a county rivalry like this.”
The Rebels scored on offense, defense and special teams. They held Chuckey-Doak to negative yardage in the first half, and the offense put five different players in the endzone while never punting.
In total South Green produced 328 yards of offense on Friday with 186 yards coming in the ground and 142 yards coming through the air. Nash Rader ran six times for 83 yards with two touchdowns, and had 38 receiving yards while also returning a punt for a touchdown. Quarterback Jacob Susong was 4-of-5 passing for 77 yards with three touchdowns to three receivers. Susong ran for 33 yards on three carries and Tripp Neas ran for 36 yards on five carries.
“It’s great to be able to score in all three phases of the game,” Jones said. “We played really well on offense, defense and special teams. That’s great and I hope we can continue to do that. That’s what you want to see out of your football team. I feel like we have a good team, we just have to stay healthy.”
It took the Rebels just four plays to find the endzone on Friday night. On Susong’s first drop back of the night he dropped a perfect ball into the hands of Trey Gentry on a fade that turned into a 17-yard score.
The lead reached 14-0 with 5:45 left in the first quarter when Rader covered 65 yards up the home sideline on a punt return that finished in the endzone.
The Black Knights’ offense continued to struggle to find room to maneuver, and on its next possession quarterback Kiptyn Ball had to fall on a bad snap in the endzone for a safety. That put South Greene in front 16-0 before it began its second offensive series of the night.
On the free kick that followed the safety Neas brough the ball back 40 yards to the 23-yard line. Rader followed with runs of eight and 15 yards to quickly increase the Rebels’ lead to 23-0 with 2:55 still to play in the first quarter.
South Greene’s defense got in on the scoring action next when linebacker Charlie Lane stripped the ball from running back Marcus Britt and returned it 27 yards for a touchdown.
South Greene’s defense was dominant in the early portion of the game as it made nine stops behind the line of scrimmage in the first half and held Chuckey-Doak to -9 yards of total offense.
“We’re flying to the football right now,” Jones said. “That’s what we did well in the preseason, and early in the season. That’s what we are going to continue to do, we’re going to fly to football.”
With 2:48 left in the first quarter South Greene led 30-0 despite only having run six offensive plays.
South Greene’s lead grew to 37-0 on the first play of the second quarter when Susong hit Lane on a corner route that covered 15 yards.
Before halftime Neas scored on a seven-yard touchdown reception and Rader ran in a 30-yard touchdown to stretch the lead to 51-0.
With 1:26 left in the first half Chuckey-Doak receiver Ethan Heimiller went down with an injury after a four-yard reception and had to be taken from the field by paramedics.
An already young Chuckey-Doak team was playing without its top two running backs and starting quarterback due to injury on Friday, but matched up with the Rebels’ younger players in the second half the Black Knights fared much better.
On Chuckey-Doak’s first series of the second half Ball, a freshman making his first start at quarterback, hit Dominic Hahnlan on a quick out. The speedy receiver made it to the boundary and raced to the goal line for a 23-yard score.
The Rebels’ second unit answered with a big play through the air of their own. Freshman quarterback Kayden Bowers sent a deep ball to freshman Noah Shelton along the left sideline. The receiver went over a defender for the catch and then raced 65 yards for a touchdown that increased the lead to 58-7.
“That’s a freshman quarterback making a great throw to a freshman receiver, and that’s exciting to see,” Jones said. “We told those guys at halftime that Chuckey-Doak is playing a bunch of freshman and sophomores, and that this was a chance for our young guys to see who they would be playing in two years.”
Ball went back to work with the Black Knights and put together a 70-yard scoring drive. The drive was highlighted by a heads up play from freshman Skylar Davis. Ball’s pass was intended for tight end James Seidl but bounced off his hands. Davis was in the right placed to catch the bounce and turned the miscue into a 43-yard gain.
Seidl pulled in the next pass that came his way and turned it into a 25-yard touchdown that set the final score at 58-14.
South Greene kicker Brant Wilhoit finished the night a perfect 8-for-8 on extra points while Chuckey-Doak’s Billy Hahnlan was 2-for-2.
Ball finished the night 8-of-16 passing for 118 yards and two touchdowns. In the second half he was 4-for-6 for 103 yards.
As a team the Black Knights ran for -23 yards and produced 95 yards of total offense.
Friday’s 44-point win is the third largest margin of victory in the 50-year history of the series between the Rebels and Black Knights. In 1998 South Greene won 53-3 and in 1994 South Greene won 46-0.
