Greene County’s football team prepares to host the Lincoln County Red Devils at Tiger Stadium this Friday at 7:30 p.m.
• Series History: Lincoln County leads, 23-12-1.
• Last Meeting: Lincoln County defeated Greene County 31-21 in 2022.
Greene County head coach Terrance Banks and his Tigers are coming off of a bye week, which means additional preparation and rest before taking on rival Lincoln County.
The Red Devils have a run-heavy offense that relies on multiple ball carriers to get them up and down the field, and Banks acknowledged it will be important for them to limit that as much as possible.
“The thing with Lincoln County is that they run the ball, and they’re basically going to run the ball almost every play,” Banks said. “Last year, they had Trey Huff, who was a threat, and they would grind you to death with four-yard plays, grind the clock, and go on long drives. This year, they have guys that are explosive, so the main thing for us is to stop that on defense.”
The Tigers have lost to the Red Devils four consecutive times, with their last win coming in 2018 as they defeated Lincoln County 35-7 in Lincolnton.
In every game since then, the Tigers have struggled to score more than three touchdowns in a game against the Red Devils, and Banks understands that they will need to be able to move the ball if they want to leave Friday night with a victory.
“Offensively, we need to find our groove,” Banks said. “If I had to say one, that would be the downside to our season. Our boys have played seven games, and in three of those, we had to play everybody, and that makes a difference because we haven’t been able to do some of the things we would’ve liked to do. We want to find a rhythm and eliminate those turnovers and mistakes.”
If the offense can find its identity, the Tigers’ defense has shown that it can hold anyone.
Greene County is currently giving up a little over seven points per game on average, and they haven’t allowed more than a touchdown to an opposing team since its win over Morgan County when the Tigers gave up 14 points.
Since the team is coming off a week of rest, the Tigers’ front seven will be ready to go with a secondary that has limited explosive plays all season.
Banks understands the importance of the extra time to prepare for a tough region opponent, and that this go-round is different from when they had an extra week to prepare for Towns County earlier this season.
“Both bye weeks have served a little bit of a different purpose,” Banks said. “The Towns County week was more about getting our bodies healthy after playing for five weeks in a row. This bye week gives us a chance to get ready for Lincoln, and we’ve been doing that for the past couple of weeks.”
Even though Greene County is having one of its best seasons in recent memory, Banks recognizes that the job is not done, and the kids do as well. He emphasized that they will continue to give maximum effort until their goals are reached.
“One thing that we emphasize to the team is that we don’t have a region championship or a state championship ring, so our goals haven’t been accomplished,” Banks said. “We have not accomplished the things that we need to accomplish to get where we want to be, so that’s why we have to keep going 1-0 every day.”
With a win, the Tigers would be in sole possession of the top spot in the region with games against Aquinas and Washington-Wilkes still on the schedule.