Greene returning to postseason play

GREENE – One statistic Greene head coach Tim Paske is proud to announce is his team’s fine record at home.

With the senior football players honored before Saturday’s game against Unatego that senior class completed the Trojans’ second unbeaten record at home in three seasons with a 38-13 victory over the Spartans.

The win clinches a tie for the Section IV, Class C Division V title, and it also vaults the Trojans into the playoffs for the third straight year. “For our seniors, (Saturday) was probably the last time they will play on this field,” Paske said. “Those seniors have gone 7-1 the past two years, and we’re 11-1 over the last three years. That’s good stuff for our program.”

Unatego wasn’t willingly bending over backward to allow Greene further success. In fact, it was the Spartans who led on two separate occasions in the first half to dampen some of the home crowd’s spirits. A 7-minute, 38-second drive to start the game ended on the 15th play, a one-yard QB sneak on fourth down by quarterback Cody Renwick.

Greene eschewed the ball-control attack in favor of the quick strike. Nate Whittaker hit running back Brian Day on a short crossing pattern, and Day took the ball down the left sideline 56 yards to the Unatego five. Two plays later, Garrett Hickey’s four-yard run capped a 100-second drive. Dan Carlin raced up the middle untouched for the two-point conversion giving the host club an 8-7 lead.

Greene’s defense tightened and appeared to have the Spartans figured out. That is, until fullback Evan Kiss placed a lip-smack on the Trojans defense. Kiss took a quick-hitting off-tackle run 49 yards for the go-ahead score just under 2 1/2 minutes into the second quarter.

Carlin returned the ensuing kickoff 50 yards to the Unatego 36 setting up the next Trojans drive. After 10 plays and small gains at the line of scrimmage, Carlin had his team on top capping the excursion from one yard out. Scott Gorton’s perfect strike to Brendan Kinne on the two-point conversion upped the lead to 16-13 at halftime.