It wasn’t Cloudland’s night on Friday night.
The ‘Landers were unable to get anything rolling offensively as they were upset 21-7 by North Greene on Friday night in Baileyton.
Cloudland struck first in the first quarter as Austin Whitehead found a wide-open Zac Benfield from 17 yards out for the game’s first score. However, North Greene answered on their ensuing drive to even the game at 7-7 early in the second quarter.
The ‘Landers were unable to get anything going as drives were stalled by turnovers. The Cloudland defense saw Punky Rhinehart nab an interception in the closing minutes of the half, but North Greene returned the favor on the opposite end.
After the Huskies ate up half of the third quarter on one touchdown drive, Cloudland turned the ball over after just two offensive plays. That allowed the Huskies, to run out the period and take a 13-7 advantage into the final quarter.
North Greene added another touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter as Zane Britton scored his second rushing touchdown of the night.
The next two Cloudland drives saw the ‘Landers turn the ball over on downs. The game ended with 1:17 remaining as Cloudland’s Noah Blair was treated for an injury. Blair was transported to Johnson City Medical Center for precautionary measures by ambulance, and was alert and responsive.
Cloudland’s Colby Birchfield recorded 120 yards rushing on 17 attempts, while Whitehead carried the ball seven times for 42 yards.
The loss drops the ‘Landers to 6-1 on the season. It is only the third time since 1975 that the Huskies defeated the Highlanders.
Cloudland returns to action next week as they host South Greene for Senior Night.
Quotable
“Noah was responsive and he answered all of his questions correctly. I think he is going to be ok. We have the best training staff in East Tennessee at Elizabethton Physical Therapy Services and they did a great job.”
-Cloudland’s Brock Pittman on the status of Noah Blair
“Basically what happened was the best team won tonight. We turned it over and drove the ball, moved the ball then we made mistakes. They made fewer mistakes then we did, and they are a well-coached football team. They took advantage of it and won the game.”
-Pittman on the difference in the game
“It is a great win for us. After last week where Hampton out played us on the front, we talked to our kids and focused back. I felt like we were the more physical team tonight.”
-North Greene Head Coach Scotty Verran
“Extremely proud of the kids. We put last week behind us and didn’t even look at it. We didn’t talk about or look at our mistakes because there was way too many. We just tried to focus on Cloudland this week. We don’t care about that ranking, we just care about it being a conference win. It gets us closer to our goal of making the playoffs. With two conference games left, we are sitting second in the conference and that is where we have to be right now.”
-Verran on the importance of the victory
