Improvement. That’s what coaches, players, and fans expected to see on Friday night when the Greene County football team opened the 2017 season. And that’s what they saw in many areas of the 21-14 non-district loss to Kuemper Catholic at Linduska Field in Jefferson in a game heard on KG98 and streamed on www.raccoonvalleyradio.com.

The passing game is a good example of that improvement. In 2016, the Rams completed just one-third of their passing attempts for the season, averaging less than 90 yards per game, and totaling six touchdowns. On Friday night, quarterbacks Clint Dennhardt and Brent Riley went a combined 20 of 35 (57.1%) for 236 yards and one TD.

Defensively, the Rams held the Knights to 250 yards of offense while gaining 272 themselves. The defense allowed touchdowns on the first possession of the game, the last possession of the first half, following a pass interception at the Rams’ 20 yard line, and the final score, which came with 3:38 to play in the fourth quarter on a drive that started on the Greene County side of the 50 yard line.

Head coach Mitch Moore said he was very proud of the players for the effort they put forth against a team that went 9-2 last season with its leading rushing and leading tackler returning, along with some other key players. Greene County went 1-8 in 2016 and takes on 0-1 Harlan Community on Sept. 1 at Linduska Field in the final non-district game of the season. Coverage on KG98 and www.raccoonvalleyradio.com starts Friday at 6:30 p.m. with kickoff at 7:30 p.m.