ENON — The Greeneview Rams advanced to 5-1 and notched their first conference victory, against the Greenon Knights (2-4), by a score of 42-21. The victory spoiled the mood for Greenon’s homecoming night and placed the Rams at the top of their division.
Rams quarterback Nick Clevenger provided the offensive spark for his team early throwing for three touchdowns. The passing displays often ripped off large chunks of yardage for the team as the running game took a back seat to the dominant passing game until the second half.
The difference in the game was turnovers.
After some initial troubles, Greeneview forced three turnovers in the game. Two of them were in the first half to give them an early lead.
“They had great answers to our defense early,” Greeneview coach Ryan Haines said. “We stopped blitzing our back side linebacker and covered more. Once we did that we were able to limit their splash plays.”
Clevenger got the momentum started when he came up with a fumble recovery in Rams territory.
“Anytime you can get turnovers, they are huge,” Haines said. “If we don’t have a couple of those takeaways, it’s a whole different ball game.”
A few plays later, Clevenger heaved a 65-yard touchdown pass to Collin Wilson on a third-and-25 play which gave the Rams their first lead of the night. They went into the half up by six.
The early lead allowed the Rams to focus on running down the clock, and the offense switched from regularly passing to rushing instead.
Greeneview running back Clay Payton churned out three TD’s, two of which were in the second half. He was able to help run the clock out with consistent rushing after halftime.
“Once he gets going, he can be hard to stop,” Haines said. “Once he started seeing some holes and breaking some tackles, we just turned him loose.”
Greeneview will play its next game at home against Southeastern at 7 p.m., Friday Oct 5.
