Happy Valley came up short on Thursday evening.
The Warriors dropped a hard-fought 39-8 decision to South Greene on Rebel Hill in the Region 1-2A opener for both squads. With the loss, HV falls to 0-2 on the season.
The Warrior defense came up with a huge play on the opening drive by holding South Greene on fourth-and-goal, but an HV fumble on the ensuing play set the Rebels up deep in Warrior territory.
South Greene took advantage of the second chance as Luke Myers hit Caleb Robinson for a short touchdown pass. The Warrior defense broke up the two-point conversion.
HV continued to battle but was unable to break onto the scoreboard in the second quarter.
SG added to the lead midway through the quarter with a 14-yard Myers touchdown pass and then added two scores in the final 2:39 of the half to take a 26-0 lead into the locker room.
Happy Valley wasn’t going to go quietly.
The Warriors used a 14-play drive to open the half that went 80 yards. Happy Valley broke onto the board with a six-yard run from Andrew Little, and then Cayden Campbell caught the two-point conversion to close the HV deficit to 26-8 with 5:35 left in the third.
South Greene, however, answered quickly to answer the HV score and then added a touchdown on the final play of the third quarter to push the lead to 39-8.
Happy Valley was able to get back into striking distance.
However, the Warriors were unable to convert an and-goal situation to close into the lead.
Pedro Colunga led HV with 33 yards on nine carries. Little had 11 carries for 27 yards.
Jamie Esterline had two catches for 21 yards.
South Greene’s Luke Myers was 13-of-15 passing for 284 yards and added 59 yards on 18 carries. Jalen Ingram had four catches for 121 yards, while Clint Lamb had five catches for 81 yards for the Rebels.
Happy Valley is slated to return to action next Friday at Unicoi County.
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