Greene County rolled up 52 points and 471 yards of offense in Boone on Friday night en route to clinching a Class 3A District 2 high school football playoff berth. The 52-23 victory was closer for much of the night than the final score indicated as the Rams out scored the Toreadors 17-0 in the final period. The win puts Coach Dean Lansman’s team at 4-1 in the district and 4-4 overall while Boone fell to 1-7 on the season and 1-4 in district play. District leader Carroll (7-1, 5-0) visits Linduska Field in Jefferson on Friday night with the district title on the line. The Tigers will be looking for the district title outright, while the Rams and Humboldt are just one game behind Carroll with one week of the regular season remaining.

The Rams and Toreadors rolled up 831 combined yards of offense with Greene County at 471 and the Toreadors totaling 360. Boone’s sophomore quarterback Tanner Schminke was 17 of 34 passing for 294 yards, three touchdowns, and three interceptions. Schminke also led his team in rushing with 62 yards on 10 carries. The Ram defense held Boone’s season rushing leader, Jaymen Tedrow, to just 17 yards on 13 carries after he entered the contest with 761 yards and an average of six yards per carry.

Greene County trailed 7-0 and 14-7 in the first half before rallying to take a 21-14 halftime lead. All three first half scores came on touchdown passes from junior Daric Whipple, who threw for 130 yards and ran for 121. Whipple found junior Max Neese from seven yards out in the first quarter, then threw a 20-yard TD pass to senior Jake Carey to knot the score 14-14 with 3:16 to play before intermission. The Rams caught a break when a punt snap went over the Boone punter’s head and the Rams took over at the Toreadors’ eight yard line and Greene County scored on a Whipple to Neese pass covering eight yards with just 43 seconds left in the second quarter. The Rams put up two quick third quarter TDs for a 35-14 lead. Whipple scored on a run of 64 yards up the middle just 1:01 into the second half, and senior Jordan Challen picked up a 31-yard TD run with 7:57 left in the third. Challen had 115 rushing yards on 13 carries.

The Toreadors used a safety to make it 35-16, then scored on the drive that followed the Greene County free kick to close to within 35-23 with 4:07 remaining in quarter number three. Boone was driving again, down by 12, when Challen picked off a Schminke pass at the Rams’ 15 and returned the ball to the 48. The Rams then went on a 52 yard drive that resulted in the longest field goal by a kicker from a Jefferson-based team in recent memory when sophomore Nick Schroeder connected from 48 yards out. Schroeder was also seven of seven on extra point kicks. The long field goal put the Rams up 38-23 with 10:05 to play. Junior Tyler Beger intercepted Schminke twice down the stretch helping to seal the win. Beger first INT led to a Whipple QB sneak for a TD with 7:25 to play and a 45-23 lead. Senior Dylan Hamilton capped the Rams’ seven touchdown night with a run of 14 yards and final was 52-23.The Rams had not scored more than 27 points in a game this season until Friday.

Greene County could finish, first, second, or third in District 2, but no worse than third place. Coverage of Carroll at Greene County Friday night begins at 6:45 p.m. with kickoff at 7:30 p.m. The playoffs in all six classes start on Wednesday, Oct. 29.

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