GREENE – Greene turned a relatively quiet 3-0 start to the season into a loud-and-clear-look-at-us-now fourth straight win to start the season.
“We love being the underdog and coming out and surprising people,” said Greene senior fullback Keith Savory. “People have overlooked us, but maybe they won’t anymore.”
Savory had 153 yards rushing and scored three touchdowns in the Trojans’ thoroughly complete and dominating 28-6 Section IV, Division V victory over Unatego Friday.
The Trojans are off to their first 4-0 start since rejoining division play 12 seasons ago, and can all but wrap up a postseason berth with a victory at Sidney this Friday. “We wanted to come out and make a statement, and a lot of people maybe didn’t believe in us, but the staff and our players do believe and we know what we’re all about,” said Trojans fourth-year coach Tim Paske. “We are satisfied with this win, but we know there is a lot more football to be played.”
Unatego entered the contest with an honorable mention state ranking, and it routed traditional power Walton, 30-8 in its opening game. The Spartans averaged 29 points a game on offense, and the offense is littered with breakaway runners and talented skill players. After a prolific first quarter, the Unatego speed was slowed to a near halt, and the Trojans exerted their will with a grind-out-it running game between the tackles. “Their speed worried us a little bit, but our coaches told us to read our keys (on defense) and stretch the plays outside,” Savory said.
Unatego found the Greene defense to be Swiss Cheese-like after forcing a Greene turnover on the first drive of the game. It took nine plays for the Spartans to put the first points on the board. Speedy back Alex Hendrickson caught the corner of the end zone for a one-yard TD run.
Perhaps the statement of the game for the Trojans’ defense came late in the first quarter. Dane Hedlund raced for 47 yards on a quick hitter up the middle to the Greene 27. Three plays later, Unatego was faced with a fourth-and-two, and Greene tackled QB Kyle Palmer for a one-yard loss ending the threat.
Unatego gained possession of the ball just four more times the rest of the game running 16 plays and never moving closer to the end zone than the Greene 42. It was a steady and consistent dose of Savory that moved the chains. The burly back carried 11 times in the second quarter, but it was a magnificent play call on a fourth-and-nine that turned the game around.
Corey Breck dropped deep and drew the Unatego defense, then hit Savory on the left side with nothing but running room. Savory scored untouched on the screen pass from 19 yards out giving Greene the momentum. Chris Engler’s two-point run put the Trojans on top for good. “We worked on that play in practice against the ‘demo’ team this week,” Paske said, “and I’m not kidding, we had a fourth-and-15 play, and Keith scored the same way.”
Time of possession, not always the truest indicator of game’s flow, certainly told the story here. The Trojans totaled 34:37 of ball control out of 48 minutes, and allowed Unatego just 57 seconds of possession time in the fourth quarter alone.
Engler’s 16-yard TD run made it 14-6 after three periods, and Savory scored on runs of seven and 10 yards in the fourth.
JV: Greene’s junior varsity also improved to 4-0 defeating the Spartans, 28-14.
Football Summary
G U
First downs 21 9
Rushes-yds 62-321 20-164
Passing yds 34 43
