In a first ever football contest between the Greene County Rams and Grand View Christian Thunder at Saydel High School in Des Moines, the Rams overcame a 14-0 third quarter deficit and won in overtime by a 21-20 final Friday night in non-district play. Coach Caden Duncan’s team is 2-1 on the season and 2-0 in road games while the Thunder fell to 2-1. The game was heard on KG98 and streamed on www.raccoonvalleyradio.com.
Senior Teagan Chisholm kicked the deciding extra point for his first game-winner in a varsity career spanning 13 games going back to last year. The win in OT was the first for a Greene County team since edging Clarinda in 2020.
The contest appeared even on paper, but after a GVC pass interception returned 63 yards by Isaiah Miguez for a touchdowns early in quarter number three, a 7-0 halftime deficit quickly became 14-0. The Rams responded with a 71 yard, eight play scoring drive that resulted in a Zach Stalder to Trevon Keely touchdown pass of 24 yards. The Chisholm extra point made it a 14-7 game with 5:12 left in the third quarter. Following a Drew Wolterman interception and return of 40 yards to the Thunder 11 yard line, the Rams tied the game on five plays. The TD was was inches outside the goal line on a Christopher Daugherty run and Chisholm’s second extra point. That was with 1:56 left in the third quarter, and neither team scored in again in regulation.
In overtime, the Rams won the coin toss and elected to play defense first. Each team had a possession for the other squad’s 10 yard line. The Thunder scored on a six yard pass from Judah Lock to Luke Jordan, but the extra point kick was wide left. The Rams’ possession from the GVC 10 ended on third down and 1 on a QB sneak by Stalder to tie the game at 20-20. Chishlom ended the contest with the extra point kick.
The defenses were in control most of the night with 226 yards of total offense for Greene County and 202 for the Thunder. The Rams ran for 73 three yards and were led by Stalder’s 48 yards on 17 carries. Stalder went 16-24-2 through the air for 153 yards including the TD pass to Keely. Daugherty led the Rams in receiving yards with 73 on four receptions. GVC ran for 89 yards and passed for 113. Lock was 17-31-1 passing and Brayden Hoben had 43 yards on seven catches.
The win was number 598 all-time for the Jefferson-based program, which began the sport in 1898. The Rams will try for win 599 on Sept. 19 when they host Saydel (Des Moines) at Linduska Field in Jefferson in the annual Homecoming game at 7 p.m. Coverage on KG98 and streaming on www.raccoonvalleyradion.com begins at 6:30 p.m. The Eagles are coming off their first win of the season, 24-20 at Des Moines North.