After losing two tough consecutive region games, the Greene County Tigers made a statement when the team traveled to Washington-Wilkes for its final regular season game last Friday night.
Greene County head coach Terrance Banks and company got out to an early lead and held off the previously higher-ranked Tigers to win 28-22 in a game that was predicated on scoring runs.
Banks believes this is the most complete win the Tigers have put together all season.
“I’m proud of the boys. This is finally, for the most part, a complete team win with the way they stepped up with some key guys out because of illness,” Banks said. “The way they played and rallied as a team was excellent.”
Both defenses got out to a quick start as Washington-Wilkes stifled Greene’s first drive, forcing a punt. The Tigers’ defense quickly responded on the next drive intercepting a pass to give the ball back to its offense.
The first score of the game came off a 2-yard pass to junior Javaris Harris for a touchdown to lead 7-0.
Washington-Wilkes would respond with a touchdown of its own on the ensuing possession, but that’s when Greene County’s defense decided to lock in.
Banks acknowledged that the Tigers’ defense was aggressive and played its best game up to this point.
“I thought our defense played the most complete game they’ve had so far, and especially early on in the game, we did a good job of stopping them,” Banks said. “They remind us a lot of ourselves offensively, so we schemed to take away their best player, and we did that completely in the first half and most of the second.”
The home Tigers wouldn’t score another point until under three minutes left to go in the fourth quarter, and Greene County took advantage of that.
Senior running back Malik West scored his first of a couple of touchdowns late in the first quarter on a 65-yard scamper to put Greene County up a touchdown heading into the first break.
The second quarter was filled with defense as the only score came off of a Harris’ pick-six to put the Tigers up 21-7 going into halftime.
Coming out of the locker room, both defenses played stingy at the point, and Greene County’s lead stayed at 14 as the game entered the fourth quarter after the stalemate period.
Banks contributed the stout defensive play mostly to the front seven, who got pressure in the backfield and made open-field tackles throughout the contest.
“So many guys on our defense stepped up. Our defensive line has been great all year, and I thought our linebackers were key last Friday,” Banks said. “Especially senior linebacker Kentavious Reid, he played well, and Harris and Wright in the secondary. Harris had the pick six, but I thought the things Wright did like taking away their best wide receiver or rolling down was key.”
With about eight minutes left to go in the game, West found the end zone from 10 yards out for the second time of the evening. The Tigers’ final regular season contest marked West’s final as well, and his performance put him over 1,000 yards on the season.
It wasn’t until 2:46 was left in the game that Washington-Wilkes scored. The home Tigers would score 15 more points in the last couple of minutes, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the deficit.
The victory would mark the Tigers’ first win over Washington-Wilkes since 2018 and only their fourth since 2000.
After all region games were played out, Greene County was named Region 8’s second seed and will play Christian Heritage next Friday in the first round of the state playoffs.
This will be the first time since 2018 that the Tigers will host a state playoff game, and Banks believes that the community may be more excited than the team.
“I think the community as a whole might be more excited than we are. I’m just happy because I didn’t want to take a 2-3 hour bus ride, so from my perspective, I’m happy about that,” Banks said. “I’m also happy that the kids get to play again in front of their fans and their families. It’s just a combination of the hard work that’s gotten them here, and now we have to be 1-0 every week because if not it will be over with. The fans are going to be loud, and I hope we can feed off that energy come Friday night.”