For more than three quarters at Linduska Field in Jefferson on Friday night on KG98 and www.raccoonvalleyradio.com, the Greene County football team looked as though it might be able to pull the upset of the Gilbert Tigers. In the end the visiting team pulled away for a 35-18 Class 3A District 2 victory. Gilbert improved to 6-1 overall and 4-1 in the district while the Rams fell to 0-7, 0-5.

The Tigers took the opening kickoff and went 83 yards on just seven plays to begin the scoring. Steven Lawrence hit Keegan Sturdy with a pass from 22 yards out and after the Rams were offside on the extra point kick, the Tigers went for two points and made it for a lead of 8-0 on a run by Eric Swart.

The Rams answered with a 43 yard, 10 play scoring drive on their first possession. Trey Tucker had a TD run of five yards and Nick Schroeder kicked the extra point to make it 8-7. Chase Stoline set up the drive with a kickoff return of 48 yards.

It was 10-8 Rams at the half on the strength of a 96 yard, 11 play drive that resulted in a 27 yard Schroeder field goal with 1:03 to play in the second quarter. An 11 play drive that went from the Rams’ 23 to Gilbert’s 20 to open the second half stalled and a second field goal try was short.

The Tigers wasted no time in getting the lead back as they scored on on a Lawrence run of 57 yards, capping a drive of 80 yards and the Andrew Thatcher extra point made it 15-10. Gilbert’s second drive of the half also resulted in a TD, this time a Cody Dvorak run of four yards and the Tigers were up 21-10 after a two-point try failed.

With 11:09 to play in the game the Rams scored on a four yard Jake Berns run and Tucker ran for two and the lead was cut to 21-18. That drive went 79 yards on only four plays and took just 1:16 of playing time. The big play was a Clint Dennhardt pass to Schroeder covering 53 yards to the four.

A third Gilbert possession of the half resulted in a third TD, Lawrence to Landon Howard pass play covering 16 yards on fourth down and 13. Thatcher’s extra point made it 28-18 with 6:46 to go, then Lawrence recovered a fumble moments later, for what was the Rams’ only turnover of the night. Dvorak scored on a run of 34 yards with 3:37 left and the extra point from Thatcher capped the scoring at 35-18.

Logan Lansman had a late fumble recovery for the Rams on Gilbert’s only turnover. The Tigers rolled up 442 yards of offense with 392 on the ground and 50 through the air. Dvorak gained 270 yards on 30 carries. The Rams had 312 yards of offense with 182 rushing and 130 passing. Dennhardt went without an interception for the second straight game, and he was six for 13 passing. Schroeder had three catches for 93 yards. Tucker ran for 78 yards on 21 carries and Dennhardt added 54 rushing yards on 15 attempts. Berns had just six carries, but totaled 50 rushing yards.

The final home game of the season for the Rams in on Oct. 14 vs. Perry (2-5, 0-5) at Linduska Field in the annual Battle for the Cowbell. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. on KG98 and www.raccoonvalleyradio.com.