After coming off a dominant 42-12 win over the Warren County Screaming Eagles a couple weeks ago, the Greene County football team turned its attention to the Lincoln County Red Devils for its third region game of the season.
The Tigers (5-2, 2-0) come into the next game with a lot of momentum but will have to travel to play the team’s toughest region opponent to date.
Lincoln County is also 5-2 on the season, and its offense is scoring just over 28 points per game. Luckily for Greene County, its defense has been stout and has only given up 18 points in its last two wins.
Tigers’ first-year head coach Terrance Banks acknowledged how important the team’s defense has been and pointed out some of the leaders that make it happen.
“The heartbeat of the defense is most definitely Marlow Lamar. I don’t think there’s a question that he’s the heart and soul,” Banks said. “Dayshawn Copeland had his best game [against Warren County], and he’s like a swiss army knife – you can play him anywhere on the front seven.”
Offensively, the Tigers’ unit is actually outscoring the Red Devils by almost a point per game, and Greene County’s players have stepped up on that side of the ball.
Wide receiver Javaris Harris continues to impress each week after having two touchdown catches against Warren County, adding to his season total of nine.
The quarterback throwing him the ball, Steve Miller, has been dialed in as well. Miller has thrown for over 1,200 yards through seven games and has only thrown five interceptions in comparison to his 17 touchdowns.
Senior Malik West and freshman Travez Gibson also add to the offense on the ground. West averages around 117 yards per game and has scored six touchdowns on the year.
Ultimately, Banks believes it was the offensive execution against Warren County that won them the game, and that type of production will need to continue against Lincoln County.
“I challenged them because it was homecoming week which can bring a lot of distractions, but they played all four quarters, so I think it was the execution,” Banks said. “There’s a lot of stuff that we’ve been doing execution-wise, but we just need to start doing it at a higher level. Offensively, it takes 11 guys to do their job and buy-in.”
Overall, the Tigers have put themselves in a position to potentially go undefeated in region play; however, Banks and company are just worried about the next game ahead of them and not any outside factors.
“I know you hear it from guys like [Nick] Saban and [Kirby] Smart all the time, but we’re truly focused on going 1-0 every week. I wouldn’t even be able to tell you our record without looking it up,” Banks said. “Lincoln will be well coached, as they always are, and we’ve got to win the turnover battle because you won’t beat them if you don’t.”