It was a historic win for Unaka.
For the first time in program history, the Rangers advanced with a playoff win as Unaka took a 44-20 victory over Greenback at Goddard Field on Friday night.
Unaka will travel to Coalfield – who dispatched North Greene 56-6 in the opening round – for second-round action.
Unaka jumped out early.
Landon Ramsey found Joe-Z Blamo for a 43-yard touchdown pass and added the two-point conversion to give UHS an early 8-0 lead.
The Rangers pushed the advantaged 16-0 as Blamo and Ramsey connected again as UHS maintained a 16-0 advantage after the first quarter.
After Greenback opened the second quarter scoring, the Unaka defense came up big as Johnny Douglas nabbed an interception and Ramsey scored a play later to push the advantage to 24-6 at the half.
The Cherokees trimed the Unaka lead to open the third quarter, but Ramsey got back on the board with a 50-yard touchdown run to respond to the Greenback scores.
Another Ramsey score gave Unaka a 38-20 lead after three complete quarters.
TJ Thomas added a 49-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter to put the exclamation point on the win.
Ramsey finished 9-of-13 passing for 133 yards, while adding 170 rushing yards on 22 carries. Blamo finished with six catches for 89 yards, while Thomas had 33 receiving yards.
Isaiah White and Blamo had interception for the Ranger defense.
