Greene County passed its Class 2A opening round football playoff test by running the ball 54 times for 538 yards. That total not only is the best this season for the Rams, but one of the highest rushing totals for a single game since Jefferson-based high school teams began playing in 1898.
The Rams defeated Roland-Story (Story City) 55-14 at Linduska Field in Jefferson Friday night. Coach Caden Duncan’s Rams improved to 8-1 on the season with their eighth straight win while R-S ended its season with a 3-6 record.
The Norsemen took the opening kick and put together a five play, 68 yard scoring drive, but missed the two-point conversion and led 6-0 just 1:46 into the game. Quin Ante threw an 11 yard TD pass to Will Bunn to open the scoring. The Rams responded with a seven play 74 yard drive and took a 7-6 lead on a Nate Black 34 yard scoring run and Nathan Behne extra point. Moments later, Patrick Daugherty scored on a run of five yards and Behne kicked the extra point to cap a drive of 71 yards on six plays and Greene County was up 14-6, and that was the score after one quarter.
The Rams led 21-6 on a five play drive covering 51 yards when Black scored on a run of 12 yards and Behne kicked the PAT just 40 seconds into quarter number two. R-S came back on third and eight from their 20 and threw a TD pass covering 80 yards from Quin Ante to Jonovan Wilkinson. A wide receiver pass from Carter Flattebo to Luke Patton for the conversion points closed the gap to 21-14. The Rams scored the last 34 points of the game, starting with a Bryce Stalder quarterback keeper from seven yards out with 3:44 to go before intermission. That capped a 60 yard, six play drive. The snap on the PAT was over the heads of holder and nicer and the score at the half was 27-14.
Greene County needed just 2:32 to score on the first drive of the second half. Jackson Morton ran into the end zone from five yards out and Behne’s kick made it 34-14. That drive was 57 yards on five plays. It went to 41-14 with 1:27 to go in the third quarter when Black scored on a 17 yard run that ended a 10 play drive covering 90 yards. Behne kicked the PAT. With 10:03 to play in the fourth quarter, Patrick Daugherty scored on a five yard run and Behne’s kick made it 48-14 to end a drive covering 66 yards and five plays. The last points came with 3:41 remaining in the game on a Gavin Scheuermann run of seven yards to end a six play drive covering 66 yards and Behne added the extra point.
Greene County amassed 548 rushing yards on 54 carries and threw the ball just nine times for 54 yards. R-S had 199 passing yards, going 6-19-1 and seventeen rushing attempts netted them zero yards. A 592-199 yardage advantage was more than enough to send the home team, ranked as high as third in 2A, to its eighth win in a row and improved the Rams to 5-0 at home. R-S was held to just less than 20 yards of offense in the second half.
Black had a career night running the ball with 237 yards on 16 carries and three TDs. Stalder totaled 134 yards on 13 attempts include one touchdown, with Daugherty at 88 yards, 12 carries, and two touchdowns. Morton had one TD on five carries and 55 yards rushing and Scheuermann added his first TD of the season. Stalder went 5-9-0 threw the air, his fifth straight game without an interception, and Morton led in receiving for the Rams with three catches and 33 yards.
Bradyn Smith recovered a fumble and Max Riley intercepted a pass for the defense, while the Greene County offense had no turnovers. During this winning streak, the Rams have scored 385 points and allowed only 26.
The round of 16 game will be Friday, Oct. 29 at 7 p.m. on KG98 and streamed on www.raccoonvalleyradio.com.