Greene County battled back from a 19-point first quarter deficit, led 20-19 at the half, built a 27-19 third quarter lead, but lost to Class 3A eighth rated Humboldt 28-27 on Friday night in high school football. The Wildcats improved to 5-1 overall and 3-1 in District 2 while the Rams fell to 2-1 in district play and 2-4 overall. The Homecoming crowd saw one of the biggest comebacks for a Ram football team since 2006, and the 27 points were a season high. The winning points for the Wildcats came on a 23-yard Austin Zylstra field goal with 3:11 left in the game.
The Rams received a career rushing night from senior Jordan Challen, who scored on runs of 33 and 44 yards. He finished with 99 yards after entering the game with three yards rushing on three carries for the season. Dylan Hamilton scored on runs of 32 and one yards.
Jaxon Heinz started the game by picking up the opening kickoff as it was rolling on the ground and he went 70 yards for a touchdown to put Humboldt up 6-0 just 16 seconds into the game. Jordan Challen blocked the PAT attempt. The Rams muffed a punt moments later and the Wildcats capitalized by throwing a 27 yard touchdown pass from Drew Thomas to Zylstra. A two-point attempt failed and Humboldt led 12-0 with 8:14 to play in quarter number one. The score went to 19-0 after Tony Nielsen intercepted a Daric Whipple pass. That set the Wildcats up at the Greene County 41 and Thomas hit Heinz from 27 yards out for the third TD of the quarter. Zylstra’s extra point made it 19-0 with 3:33 remaining in the opening period.
Greene County picked up its first points with 8:45 to play in the first half on a Challen run of 33 yards, capping a seven play drive covering 70 yards. A try for two points failed. Max Neese intercepted a Thomas pass and the Rams set up shop at Humboldt’s 27. Following a penalty against Greene County, Dylan Hamilton ran 32 yards for the first of his two scores and Nick Schroeder kicked the extra point to make the score 19-13. Jake Carey picked off a Thomas pass a short time later and Challen scored on a run covering 44 yards to tie the score. Schroeder’s extra point boot put Greene County up 20-19 with 3:07 to play before halftime.
The Rams opened the second half with a 14 play, 77 yard scoring drive with Hamilton scoring from the one. Schroeder kicked the extra point for a 27-19 lead with 6:42 to play in the third quarter, but the Rams would not score again. Humboldt made it 27-25 on Tony Nielsen run of 63 yards with 5:24 to go in the third. A pass attempt to tie the game failed. The game winning drive began with 6:31 to play in the game and Thomas went five for five through the air to put the Wildcats in field goal range.
The Annual Battle of the Cowbell takes place at Dewey Field in Perry on Oct. 10 between Greene County and the Blue Jays with playoff implications on the line. Both teams are 2-1 in the district with three games remaining. Friday night football coverage on both KG98 and KDLS begins at 6:45 p.m. with kickoff at 7:30 p.m.
Greene County is on the road at Perry on Oct. 10 in the Annual Battle of the Cowbell with coverage on KG98 and KDLS 1310 AM at 6:45 p.m. and kickoff from Dewey Field at 7:30 p.m.