MARYVILLE – The North Greene Huskies could not stop a red-hot Eagleton offense as Colton Relation raced in for four touchdowns and helped the Royals defeat the Huskies 62-28.
After a chaotic beginning to the week when the idea of football on Friday night seemed bleak, the Huskies managed to work in a game with Eagleton on Tuesday morning and made the trip to Maryville on Friday night.
“We’re grateful to have an opportunity to play football. We’re very thankful for Eagleton for inviting us to play because they didn’t have to do that. I’m grateful they gave us an opportunity to come play. We got an extra 48 minutes against a good football team. It’s kind of a good measuring stick for us cause they’re a playoff team in 2A,” North Greene Head Coach Eric Tilson said.
The Eagleton staff and community were not only hospitable and welcoming, but kind and generous enough to also provide food, water, and shower supplies to each North Greene player after Friday night’s game.
The contest marked the first-ever meeting between both schools. After tonight, North Greene’s four-game winning streak comes to an end and their record shifts to 4-2. Eagleton improved to 4-3.
Heading into the matchup the game plan was to keep all eyes on quarterback Nathan Clemmer. That quickly changed in the first half after running back Colton Relation became the new main point of focus.
“Their running back was legit. He showed it tonight. We thought we had to take care of Clemmer and all of a sudden, we’re like no we don’t! We had to take care of the run game and they had some variants and they’re well-coached. It forced us into some bad situations defensively and we’ve got to respond to it and fix it,” Tilson mentioned.
North Greene’s 28 points on offense is the highest total that Eagleton has allowed all season and, even in defeat, the Huskies were happy with their offensive output after a week of uncertainty and doubt.
Coach Tilson bragged on his team by saying, “I commend them for being able to reset, move on, and be able to even come out here and play tonight. Those are the things you don’t see on the stat sheet that those kids need to be commended for is the ability to reset multiple times thinking we’re not going to be able to play this week to now we are playing to now we aren’t playing. That’s hard on a kid and they deserve some praise for sticking in there and being here tonight.”
The game started with Colton Relation’s 40-yard rushing touchdown two minutes and seventeen seconds into the game to hand Eagleton an early 7-0 lead.
The Huskies picked up a pair of first downs on the next drive, but an interception by Wyott Matossian forced an early turnover that the Royals capitalized on. Relation would throttle his way into the end zone again from 37 yards out to boost their lead to 14-0.
Another offensive drive for North Greene stalled out and forced one of only two punts all game. It didn’t take long for Navaar Macdonald-Risner to find the end zone for a 63-yard touchdown reception from Nathan Clemmer. Eagleton led 20-0.
A promising offensive drive saw the Huskies reach the red zone after 12-yard and 13-yard first-down runs from Yeshua Vaught, but a fumble right inside the 20-yard line was recovered by Eagleton.
Leon Johnson started the second quarter with a sack that backed the Royals up into a 3rd-&-long situation. The drive looked to be over until Wyott Matossian gained the 13 yards needed for the first. A play later Lane Cope hauled in a 50-yard catch that landed him in the end zone and extended their lead to 27-0.
North Greene’s offense started firing on all cylinders and put together a 57-yard drive that took two minutes and twenty-six seconds to find the end zone. Yeshua Vaught proved why he’s known as the workhorse of North Greene’s offense and recorded a 22-yard reception that should’ve been for only ten yards but the senior back could not be stopped as he drug multiple defenders with him.
Thomas Darnell pulled the ball on an option play and picked up 12 yards before letting Vaught keep it and pick up 20 more yards. Vaught finished the drive with a 3-yard touchdown run up the gut to cut the lead to 27-7.
Eagleton used three huge chunk plays on their next drive to score another touchdown. Relation started with an 18-yard run that was followed by an 18-yard catch-and-run from Lane Cope. Relation finished with a 15-yard touchdown run to extend the lead back out to 34-7.
North Greene drove 70 yards on their next drive and found the end zone once more. Darnell broke off a big 35-yard run to start. Facing 4th-&-5, Jake Duffy pulled in a 22-yard catch to extend the drive. Darnell picked up 5 yards on 3rd down and an offsides penalty on Eagleton gave them a new set of sticks on the 2-yard line.
A little trickery and misdirection led to Jake Duffy’s wide-open 2-yard touchdown catch on 4th down. The Huskies still trailed 34-14.
The Royals immediately responded on the school’s first-ever kickoff return touchdown from Lane Cope. The play went 86 yards and pushed the lead to 41-14.
North Greene was a threat to score before the half, but after Duffy returned the short kick to the 38-yard line and Brandon Weems picked up 23 yards the Huskies fell short of the end zone. It appeared they scored a touchdown courtesy of Kelson Eastep, but the officials waived the play off due to a penalty.
The halftime score was 41-14 in Eagleton’s favor.
The Huskies marched out of the locker room and put together another scoring drive that ended with Thomas Darnell finding the end zone on a 31-yard run. He trimmed their deficit to 41-21. “I’m pleased Darnell had another good night,” Tilson stated.
Eagleton responded with another fruitful drive that saw them cover 74 yards in three minutes and twenty-five seconds. Colton Relation started with a run of 15 and Risner covered 10 yards next on a catch. Relation and Risner picked up two more first downs on a run of 10 and catch of 11 on 4th-&-3. Matossian then picked up 10 before Lane Cope found paydirt with a 9-yard touchdown catch to boost their lead to 48-21.
North Greene responded with another scoring drive too. Brandon Weems picked up 16 yards to deliver a first down. Darnell ran for 8 and then connected with Eastep for a first down on 3rd-&-4. Darnell carried it for 17 yards to the 2-yard line. He finished the deal with a 2-yard plunge into the end zone. The scoreboard read 48-28.
The Royals continued scoring with who else other than Colton Relation. He rattled off runs of 20 and 11 yards before crossing the plane from 4 yards out for his fourth and final touchdown.
Wyatt Matossian scored a 2-yard touchdown to cap the game’s scoring.
North Greene suffered a 62-28 loss once the clock hit triple zeros.
“When we take care of the football, we’re in a pretty good spot. When we don’t this is what happens. We’ve got some stuff we’ve got to sure up defensively,” Tilson expressed.
North Greene heads into their bye week before going back into Region 1-A competition against Unaka on Friday, October 18th.
