Tuscaloosa Academy Beats Greene County Decisively on Homecoming Night
On homecoming night, the Tuscaloosa Academy Knights sent their fans home with a win over the Greene County Tigers. The final score was 26-16 but the score does not tell the whole story.
The Knights were in control the entire game, but the Tigers scored a few times late to make the score more respectable.
At the start of the game though, both teams could not find any ground. On Tuscaloosa Academy’s first drive, they converted one first down and then were stopped short on a fourth and one run by running back Jaydn Howard. Greene County could also not do anything on their first drive as they punted after a three and out.
With 1:05 left in the first quarter though, Tuscaloosa Academy put up the first points of the night with a 13-yard strike from quarterback Preston Lancaster to wide receiver Luke Kilgore, after an extra point the score was 7-0
After another three and out by the knight defense, Tuscaloosa Academy drove all the way down the red zone before penalties and missing a 41-yard field goal.
With another drive ending with Tigers punting the ball back to the Knights, Tuscaloosa finally got their run game going with a 26-yard run by Scott Kemp. Just one play later running back Sherabiah Jones punched in a 11-yard touchdown run. After missing the extra point, the score was 13-0 Knights.
On the final drive of the half for Greene County, starting quarterback Raymond Lewis goes down with an injury after a 17-yard run. This is a devastating blow for the Tigers because before the injury, Lewis had 74 yards rushing.
With a Kilgore punt return of 30 yards, the Knight had a short field and they took advantage of it. On the final play of the half, Lancaster found Kilgore for a five-yard touchdown. After missing another extra point, the Knights went into the half with a 19-0 lead.
With the injury to Lewis, Greene County had to rely on backup quarterback Jeremiah Bullock and the run game. After getting to midfield on a 29-yard pass from Bullock to Jayden Lewis, the Tigers decided to throw it deep, but it was intercepted by cornerback Kaleb Colgrove
The Tigers then stopped the Knights first drive of the second half and gave the ball back to their offense. On this drive, running back Tristan Williams became the star of the show with 65 rushing yards on this drive. Williams efforts helped the Tiger finally get on the board with an eight-yard run by running back Jeremy Armstead. Greene County also converted a two-point conversion which made the score 19-8 with 2:46 left in the third quarter.
The Tigers looked like they were taking the momentum away from the Knights after stopping them again. But with 7:33 left in the game, Bullock threw a 76-yard pick six to corner/running back Shemaiah Jones. The made extra point put the score to 26-8.
Greene County did not go down without a fight after the pick six. With 6:04 left in the game Bullock tossed it to Lewis who then threw a 71-yard touchdown pass to Markevis Coller.
The rest of the game was Tuscaloosa Academy running the clock out and escaping with a win. The final score was 26-16 Knights.
“It was kind of a weird game, we had control for most of the game but then let it slip away from us late,” says Knights head coach Josh Wright.
Tuscaloosa Academy next week hosts Lamar County while Greene County returns home to face Winston County.