JELLICO — The North Greene Huskies know how to end a game. Down 20-18 with 2:15 left to go in their game at Jellico on Friday, the Huskies scored with 21 second left to steal a 24-18 win from the Blue Devils.
“That was a great game,” North Greene coach Eric Tilson said. “The big thing is Brandon Weems had a lights out game. Two touchdowns, took two big reverses running the ball. So big, big day for Brandon.”
Weems was instrumental on the Huskies’ final drive. North Greene had started the drive at midfield and after a few chunk plays, Weems took a reverse for what seemed to be the game-winning TD, but the refs ruled he had stepped out of bounds 8 yards shy of the end zone.
The Devils were able to force the Huskies into a fourth-and-goal from the 14 when Tilson called a timeout.
“And (Weems) comes over to me and said, ‘Coach, I’m open on this play.’ I said, ‘OK, let's run it.’ And my God, he got open on that play and scored a touchdown,” Tilson said with a laugh.
Sure enough, when quarterback Thomas Darnell took the snap and rolled left, he found Weems wide open for the go-ahead touchdown with 21 seconds to play. The Huskies defense did the rest, going into prevent defense and Darnell making the final tackle in bounds as Jellico tried to keep the ball alive with laterals.
“It is a big win because it's a regional opponent,” Tilson said. “This is the first time we've had a winning record since, I believe, 2017. And the first time we've had a two-game win streak since 2012 so there's a couple big things there. We're 1-0 in our region, which is huge. That's also the first time we've done that since I've been here. So to start off region play with the win is huge going forward. You could build a team around that.”
The Huskies struck first six minutes into the opening quarter. Yeshua Vaught took a handoff up the middle for a 12-yard score, but a missed PAT made it 6-0. North Greene added another score, courtesy of an 84-yard catch and run from Weems, to make it 12-0 after a missed PAT.
Defenses stiffened up in the second and the Huskies held a two-score lead entering the half.
With 4:25 left in the third, Jellico finally got on the board on a designed run by quarterback Owen Morgan who took it 45 yards for six. A missed PAT made it 12-6.
Jellico took the lead 14-12 with 5:25 left to go on a 17-yard rushing touchdown. However, Vaught quickly took the lead back for North Greene with a 34-yard run and a 14-yard plunge for six on the team’s next drive.
Jellico’s Morgan scored on a 48-yarder to put his team up 20-18, before the Huskies came back to win the game in the final seconds.
North Greene improves to 2-1 and travels to Cumberland Gap to face the 0-3 Panthers on Friday.
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