Football will return to Rebel Hill on Friday night with a big test for South Greene as it takes on Morristown East.
The Hurricanes will be the first ever Class 6A team South Greene has welcomed to Rebel Hill, but Jones feels like his squad is good enough to move up four classifications and get a win.
“East lost a bunch of starters from last year, so it’s a whole new team that we don’t know a lot about. But they are 6A school so they can reload,” South Greene coach Jones Shawn Jones said. “They will be a tough opponent and that’s why we scheduled them. We aren’t going to shy away from a big opponent. If we bring our ‘A game’ we have a good opportunity.”
The Rebels have met Morristown East twice in the past, in 1985 and 1986, and at that time they were in Class AAA in a three-class system. South Greene played Greeneville, Daniel Boone and David Crockett when they were in the state’s largest classification, Class AAA, but the Hurricanes are the only program currently in Class 6A the Rebels have ever met. The last time South Greene played a team while it was in the state’s largest classification was Greeneville in 1992. TSSAA split public schools into five classifications in 1993.
Playing a school with three times its enrollment, will be a challenge for the Rebels from a shear numbers standpoint. East will dress around 80 players on Friday while South Greene will dress less than 40.
Jones knows his players have to be ready for a four-quarter battle, and depth will play an important role in the August heat.
“When you are playing a team with 80 kids you worry about depth. We are going to dress 36 or 37 kids, that will be a challenge,” Jones said. “We have to be in shape, we can’t cramp up, and we can’t catch the injury bug. Last year against Crockett we felt like we won the first half, but then we got tired. We have to get over that hump.”
Morristown East is coming off a 3-7 season and it has not had a winning season since 2016 when it went 6-5.
The Rebels went 8-2 a year ago before the season ended in the first round of the playoffs. They are guaranteed another playoff appearance this season by playing a four-team region, but they are taking on larger schools like Morristown East and Daniel Boone to get ready for football in November.
Jones expects the Hurricanes to spread the field on offense and try to throw the ball. The Rebels’ secondary will have to be prepared to make plays, but with important pieces back like Simon Burns and Nash Rader Jones thinks his team is up for the challenge.
Rader will be counted on to lead the offense as well as he takes over at quarterback, but he has sat out much of the last three weeks nursing a hamstring injury.
Rader’s ability to run, paired with running back Tripp Neas will be key for South Greene on Friday night. But moving the Hurricanes talented defensive front will be a tough task for the Rebels offensive line.
“Their front five, three down linemen and two linebackers, are pretty dang good. We’ll try to run the ball on them, but we have to block those guys. We’ve talked about it all week, and it is going to be a challenge,” Jones said.
“It’s going to be hard for them to replicate what Nash can do in practice. But the question for us is how do we gel when we put Nash back in there.”
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. from Rebel Hill and the game will be broadcast live on WIKQ – 1013.1 FM.
