South Greene senior Tripp Neas was an unstoppable force on Friday night as he ran all over the Tundra at North Greene High School and sent his Rebels home celebrating a 41-6 win over their cross-county rivals.
“North Greene plays hard, you have to give them credit. I’m really impressed with how they played,” South Greene coach Shawn Jones said. “We played well tonight too, and it’s a good thing number zero is on our team. He was so big for us. I feel like we blocked pretty well, but even when we don’t, he makes something happen.”
Neas finished the Rebels’ 10th straight win over North Greene with 20 carries for 246 yards and five rushing touchdowns. He touched the ball on 82 percent of the Rebels’ offensive plays before he left the game early in the fourth quarter. Even though everyone gathered in Baileyton knew he was getting the ball, there was little the Huskies could do to stop him.
“The line opened up holes and I started hitting them,” Neas said. “I hit the second level and eventually broke them. Its just driving with your head down, maybe a little stiff arm, maybe a little juke. If they never know what you are going to do then they can’t get you down. I wanted six (touchdowns) again, and coach Jones wouldn’t let me get the last one, but it still feels great.
The Rebels’ defense was up to the task as well on Friday and forced three turnovers in the first quarter which helped the offense quickly put the Huskies in a hole.
“Those turnovers were big,” Jones said. “We had two big goal-line stands too. The defense played well tonight, and coach Case made the right adjustments. I felt like our backend is pretty athletic and they made some plays tonight. The defense played lights out.”
Neas actually did go backward on his first carry of the night as the Huskies swarmed to him for a one-yard loss. On the second play he got around the tackle with quickness and picked up 28 yards.
The drive continued with Trent Haynes taking a shovel pass 18 yards, and Neas found the endzone for the first time with 9:25 left in the first quarter when he went around the corner to left untouched.
North Greene’s first drive ended when Leon Johnson fumbled going to the turf and Jaden Estepp scooped it up before advancing 23 yards.
Three Neas rushes followed. The final one covered nine yards straight up the middle and Sammy Jones’ extra point made it 14-0.
The turnover bug struck the Huskies again and a errant exchange on their next snap gave the ball back to South Greene at the Huskies’ eight yard line.
This time Neas needed just one try to extend the lead to 20-0 with 4:50 still left in the first quarter.
The lead grew to 27-0 with 4:46 left in the first half when Neas took a handoff to the left. He was met at the line of scrimmage, but shook loose from the defender. Once in the open field no one in green was going to catch him on the way to a 21-yard score.
North Greene found some life on its ensuing drive and that was largely due to Johnson finding some pep in his step. The Huskies’ senior running back took some hard hits early and sat out a few series with an ankle injury, but on first down he bulldozed his way to a 12-yard gain and North Greene’s entire sideline seemed reinvigorated. Johnson followed with runs of seven, 25, and 28 yards before Jared Swatzell faked to him and crossed the goal line on a read option.
Juan Soto never got to attempt the extra point, but North Greene cut the lead to 27-6 with 2:26 left in the first half. It stayed that way into the break.
North Greene started the second half by marching down to the two-yard line, but with their backs against the wall the Rebels defense stood strong. Noah Shelton made the last stop, tackling Matt Boyd in the backfield on a screen pass.
On the very next play Neas lined up as a wildcat quarterback with his heels on the wrong goal line. The play was designed to go to the right and the wide side of the field. Neas bobbled snap preventing an exchange, but he saw an opening to the left. The speedster quickly found nothing but wide-open Tundra in front of him and he out ran everyone for a 95-yard touchdown that pushed South Greene’s lead to 34-6.
“It was supposed to be a counter to the right, but I bobbled the snap. I took off to the left and was like, ‘Oh, no one’s here, I’m housing it. No one can catch me’. And they didn’t,” Neas said.
North Greene’s offense pushed into the redzone once again, helped by 33 yards of penalties assessed on one play. Again South Greene’s defense stood tall and forced a missed 30-yard field goal.
Eli Fillers took over in the backfield late in the contest and with 2:54 left to play he powered in a five-yard touchdown that set the final margin at 41-6.
South Greene finished Friday with 330 yards of offense, 293 of those came on the ground.
North Greene’s Johnson ran for 155 yards on 20 carries.
The Huskies averaged over 220 yards per game through the air coming into the game, but on Friday the Rebels held them to 69 yards passing on 8-of-19 attempts with two interceptions.
North Greene finished with 260 yards of total offense.
