It was a battle all the way to the final seconds during last Friday’s football game between Greene County (5-4, 2-2) and Aquinas High School (6-3, 2-2), but the Fighting Irish were able to outlast a late push by the Tigers and come away with a victory.
The Tigers hosted Aquinas for their fourth region game of the year and fell short 28-27 after leading by a touchdown with seven minutes left to go in the game.
To start the game, Greene County fumbled on its opening possession to give Aquinas good starting field position. The Fighting Irish took advantage and jumped out to an early 7-0 lead by the end of the first quarter.
Head coach Terrance Banks’ offense had trouble moving the ball downfield toward the start, but eventually found the end zone before the end of the first half. Tigers’ running back Malik West was able to power it in from five yards out for Greene’s only score of the first half.
After trailing 14-7 at halftime, Greene County’s defense tightened up to begin the second half. The Tigers didn’t allow the Fighting Irish to score in the third quarter, causing Aquinas to turn the ball over on a fumble.
Greene County was able to take advantage of its takeaways and scored the only touchdown of the quarter but failed to convert the PAT, which would prove to be costly later.
Only trailing by one, Banks’ squad made a push to take the lead for the first time in the contest heading into the fourth quarter.
The run game proved to work for the Tigers again as West found the end zone for his second time of the night on another 5-yard run.
That put Greene up five points, so Banks elected to go for two, and it worked out. Quarterback Steve Miller found Javaris Harris on a pass for the 2-point conversion, and the Tigers were up 21-14 with just under seven minutes left to play.
That’s when the little aspects of the game started coming into play.
The two teams would trade touchdowns the rest of the contest, but the Fighting Irish capitalized on both of its extra point attempts, whereas the Tigers only converted on one.
With the two missed extra points, it marked the Tigers’ second consecutive region loss, and it comes before its potentially toughest matchup yet.
Looking ahead, Greene County will hit the road to face the region’s top-ranked Washington-Wilkes Tigers this Friday.
The two teams have a long history of playing each other that dates back to 1966, and the last time Greene County defeated the opposing Tigers was back in 2018 to win the region championship.
All in all, Greene County has only won 15 out of the 52 games played against each other, so the Tigers will hope for a different outcome this go-around.