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Sophomore Clarke Rudy runs the ball in for a touchdown in Greenville’s
35-19 homecoming
victory Friday. CNO Photo by Craig Schmidt,
schmidtphotostudio.com
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Wave tops McClain on homecoming night
By George Starks
Sports Editor
GREENVILLE - Homecoming proved to be a positive for Greenville Friday.
Coming off a loss the week before and having a three game winning
streak snapped, the Wave got back on the right track.
In front of a standing room only crowd on the home side, Greenville
presented its alumni with a 35-19 victory to go to 4-5 on the season.
In a game that saw over 200 yards in penalties (both teams combined)
Greenville was able to work through it.
“It makes it double sweet for me when we win, especially on homecoming
night,” said Wave football coach and a Wave alum, TJ Powers. “My kids
fought through a lot of adversity out there tonight. There were calls
that were very questionable all night.”
Holding a 14-7 lead at the half, Greenville scored at the 4:48 mark of
the third when junior William Swisher scored from 16 yards out, giving
the Wave a 21-7 advantage.
Greenville would increase that lead to 28-7 with no time remaining in the frame as Zach Comer caught a 73 yard TD pass.
That’s when the tide started to turn on the Wave and it started in the fourth quarter.
Up, 28-7, Greenville looked to be in control and was going to cruise to
a victory. After McClain scored with 8:48 remaining in the game on an
eight yard run by junior Dillon East, bringing the score to 28 13, no
one saw what was coming next.
The Panthers executed a perfect onsides kick, recovering the ball and
the McClain offense was back in business. The Greenville was hit with a
face mask penalty, opening the door for the Panthers.
We gave them a chance there at the end,” said Powers. “We weren’t ready
for the onsides kick and that was my fault. I didn’t have my good hands
team out there. The onsides kick and the face mask gave me a few more
gray hairs than I really needed, but we won.”
With 4:52 remaining to be played, McClain got the score to 28-19 on a
touchdown pass. Greenville countered with 2:55 showing as senior signal
caller, Jacob Burk scampered in from 13 yards out giving the Wave a
35-19 advantage.
“We really clicked at times on offense tonight,” Powers said. “The
defense came up large for us tonight with a couple of interceptions and
a fumble recovery. My kids played hard and I’m very proud of them, and
happy they were able to win on homecoming night.
Greenville will look to finish the season with a 5-5 record next week
at home against Goshen. Goshen beat the Wave a year ago, 41-20 at
Goshen.
In other games around Darke County, Versailles stayed in the playoff
hunt with a 33-0 thumping of Anna, while the Ansonia Tigers may be out
of the hunt, losing to Covington 52-12. Arcanum improved its chances of
getting in with a 20-10 win over Bethel.
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