The chants of “overrated” echoed around the Black Hole at Chuckey-Doak High School all night long, but one scamper to the weak side and a stretch of the football emphatically silenced the critics while adding to the lore of one of the area’s top players.
All night long South Greene and Chuckey-Doak exchanged haymakers and went to overtime for the first time in the 52-game history of the rivalry. That is where Tripp Neas, the Rebels’ senior running back delivered the knockout blow with a decisive two-point conversion that gave the Rebels a 29-28 win in Afton.
“I’m so proud of these guys, we had players going down and the next guy had to step up. Then, (Neas) just willed us to a win,” South Greene coach Shawn Jones said. “He was feeling bad and throwing up, I told the team that I was 95 percent sure he wasn’t playing tonight. His legs were jelly, but nobody saw that. He just willed in that last score. It was a super team effort, we gutted one out.”
Despite the chiding of the Chuckey-Doak student section Neas was anything but “overrated” on Friday night. He finished Friday’s action with 31 carries for 184 yards and four touchdowns. Three of those touchdowns, and the game-winning two-point conversion came in the fourth quarter and overtime.
“This win was big. We got down, but coming back to get the win feels amazing. It just took that dog mentality,” Neas said. “We had adversity, we had two starters go down, but underclassmen stepped up. I think this will be great for going forward, to know we can win a game like this.”
Just hours before kickoff the Rebels did not know if Neas was going to be on the field at all. He was fighting a migraine and the severe headache with nausea and light sensitivity made it look unlikely that he would suit up. Then Mother Nature played a helping hand for the Rebels as lightning in the area delayed kickoff for an hour. That gave the Rebels’ star more time to recover.
“He was feeling bad after school. I sent him to my office during our team meal, and he’s throwing up when I went to check on him. He just had to sit in there with the lights off,” Jones said. “People won’t realize what it took for him to get on the field tonight. I didn’t think there was any way he was going to play. I think the delay helped us, it let him get over the headache and get medicine working. But he was huge tonight.”
Neas’ heroics and the Rebels comeback started with 11:07 left in the fourth quarter when the senior went off tackle to the left and hurdled across the goal line.
Jones then elected to go for two, and shocked everyone in attendance by lining up in a five-wide formation. Quarterback Dawson Ripley quickly sent a swing pass to Eli Fillers who stretched across the goal line and evened the score at 14-14.
Chuckey-Doak looked to have the answer two plays into the ensuing series when Brody Myers launched one deep to Skylar Davis, but a holding penalty erased the go-ahead touchdown and the Knights never got back in front of the chains.
South Greene’s defense stepped up in big ways all night, and its biggest moment may have come with 4:22 left in regulation when defensive tackle Lucas Murdock jumped on a fumbled exchange and set the Rebels’ up 18 yards away from the goal line.
With 2:14 left to play Neas put the Rebels in front on a tough fourth-down run from the 11-yard line. Neas lined up as a wildcat quarteback with three fullbacks in front of him and offset to the right. He took the snap and raced to the right following his blockers. He bounced off one tackler, walked the tightrope and stretched for the pylon.
Sammy Jones’ extra point put the Rebels on top 21-14.
After an errant kickoff gave Chuckey-Doak a short field the Knights needed just three plays to even the score once again. Marcus Britt carried the ball last, powering his way straight up the middle for a 14-yard touchdown.
The game went to overtime tied at 21-21.
In the extra session Chuckey-Doak played offense first and needed just one play to score. Britt bulldozed straight up the middle and shook a tackler off his ankle as he crossed the goal line.
When South Greene got its chance the Rebels went with Neas receiving the snap and following his three fullbacks again. It took two carries, but he scored his fourth touchdown of the night.
Jones decided the game was going to end there one way or the other, and chose to go for two. The coach wanted to throw the ball, but Neas knew that going to the weak side would catch the Knights off guard. It worked perfectly, receiver Jaxen Taylor sealed the edge and Neas trotted in untouched before the visitors’ sideline erupted in jubilation.
“Coach Jones probably won’t say this, but I drew that play up,” Neas said. “I recognized that we could hook the end man and get in. They only had one corner and one linebacker on that side, so we hoked one and rolled the H-back out, and it was just barbecue chicken from there.”
Friday’s game started as a defensive battle with both units making key stops.
Chuckey-Doak made it into the red zone three times in the first half, but never managed to find the endzone. One touchdown was called back because of a hold, but the Rebels made four stops behind the line of scrimmage on those three redzone trips.
“Hats off to the defense they made three huge stands in the first half. That was huge, our defense has played well all year and they got it done again,” Jones said.
Neas scored the lone touchdown of the first half with under a minute left in the second quarter. He capped a 96-yard drive with a five-yard run up the middle.
The drive was highlighted by two big plays. On the first play of the series Neas ripped off 44 yards on a power play out of the Wildcat. Quarterback Dawson Ripley then heaved a jump ball to Shawn Ownby that covered 47 yards. Ownby and safety Braxton Lowe tied the ball up in the air. They landed with both fighting for possession, but the Rebel was awarded the catch.
Chuckey-Doak’s offense finished its first drive of the second half to take a 7-6 lead just over two minutes into the third quarter. Myers tossed a 26-yard touchdown to Davis in the left corner of the endzone.
With 6:26 left in the third quarter the Black Knights extended their lead to 14-6. Myers patiently rolled to the left and saw that Kiptyn Ball had slipped open down the left boundary. Ball pulled in the pass behind the defense and raced 87 yards to the endzone.
Chuckey-Doak finished Friday with 409 yards of total offense. Myers was 7-of-9 passing for 159 yards with two touchdowns. Britt had 13 carries for 113 yards with two scores.
South Greene produced 321 yards of total offense. The Rebels produced 214 yards on the ground. Ripley was 9-of-20 passing for 107 yards.
South Greene will look to complete the sweep of its county foes next week when it hosts West Greene.
Chuckey-Doak will make the trip to Johnson County for a Region 1-3A contest.
