Just moments after a point-after attempt for Greenfield failed with just over a minute left in the fourth quarter of Friday night’s regional battle between the Bulldogs and Yellowjackets, Gleason Head Coach Noah Lampkins was quick to remind his team that it was still a one-possession game and that the game was not over yet.
    Displaying fortitude, Lampkins’ charges responded to his motivation. After starting the drive with about 1:10 left in the game and down by eight points at their own 25-yard line, the Bulldogs picked up a quick first down when Zach Wallace hit an open Cody Ezell for a 13-yard strike. Wallace then got the Bulldogs across midfield with a 22-yard pass to Nicky Spain that took the Bulldogs to the Greenfield 30-yard line. But, the Greenfield defense got the stops it needed, forcing three incomplete passes and got a five-yard penalty to force a fourth-and-15 from the 35-yard line. With all his receivers covered, Wallace attempted to scramble for the first down, but came up five yards short as he was knocked out of bounds at the Yellowjacket 25-yard line.
    After the turnover on downs, the ’Jackets only needed to take a knee once to seal the 20-12 win.
    The Yellowjackets controlled the momentum early in the game. Starting at their own 37-yard line after a 24-yard kickoff return to begin the game by Daniel Ricketts, Greenfield began a methodical opening drive that covered much of the opening quarter. Quarterback Ty Smithson found an open Steven Johnson to a nine-yard strike to set up a four-yard run by Tyler Dunning for a first down. Gleason’s defense stiffened briefly, but another nine-yard Smithson pass – this one to Ricketts – set up a quarterback sneak for another first down. Though three straight carries by Dunning only amounted in one yard, the Smithson-to-Ricketts connection came up big again, covering 29 yards to inside the Gleason 10-yard line. The ’Jackets again went to Dunning, who found the end zone on a third-down, two-yard run to break the scoreless tie with 4:37 left in the opening frame. Though the PAT attempt was unsuccessful, the Yellowjackets held a 6-0 lead.
    Gleason has been known to make some quick strikes this season already, but on their first offensive series in Week 2, the Bulldogs showed they could put together s lengthy drive themselves. An eight-yard run by Wallace opened the Gleason drive at the 32-yard line. Two plays later, Spain picked up a first down with a three-yard run to the Gleason 44-yard line. Carries by Spain and Wallace set up another first down run, this one by Ezell, that spanned six yards and took the Dawgs across the 50-yard line to the Greenfield 45 on the final play of the opening quarter. A Shadow Roney run set up an Alex Verdell carry for a first down. Then, Verdell returned the favor as his three-yard carry led to a 10-yard run by Roney. The drive briefly stalled, but Spain found an open Wallace to a 17-yard pass down to the Greenfield 5-yard line. It took only a pair of Verdell runs to get into the end zone as a two-yard bashing run tied the game with 7:46 left in the half. Greenfield’s defense, though, stepped up on the PAT, getting the block to keep the game tied at 6-6.
    The teams swapped a pair of three-and-outs before the ’Jackets got the ball back on their own 44-yard line with just over three minutes left in the game. Running a hurry up offense, the Greenfield offense was clicking as an eight-yard run by Chase McMullen took the ’Jackets across midfield to the Gleason 43-yard line. A Dunning run for a dozen picked up another first down. Gleason’s defense stopped the ’Jackets for only three yards over the next three plays, but Smithson came up big for Greenfield, finding an open Johnson for a 23-yard strike down to the Gleason 5-yard line. Smithson then hit an open Ricketts for the touchdown with 8.7 seconds left in the half. Houston Brunmeier then added the two-point conversion to give the ’Jackets a 14-6 lead at the break.

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    The Greenfield Yellowjackets picked up their first junior high win of the 2008 season, jumping out to an early lead to take a 38-20 win over Henry on Thursday night at Greenfield.
    The Yellowjackets got on the board early as quarterback Austin Pence found an open Quinton Yarbrough on the first offensive play of the game for a 52-yard touchdown pass. Pence thend found an open Zack Grooms for the two-point conversion to make the score 8-0 with 7:21 left in the first frame.
    Greenfield got a big play on special teams, as Joshua Lasater recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff to give Greenfield the ball at the Henry 32-yard line. From there, it took seven plays for the Yellowjackets to find the end zone as Yarbrough broke free for a 24-yard touchdown run to put Greenfield ahead 14-0 with 2:22 left in the initial stanza.
    The Yellowjacket scoring continued into the second frame as Pence hit Yarbrough again for a touchdown pass, this one covering 83 yards to make the score 20-0 with 5:18 left in the first half.

(Read the rest of this story in this week's edition of the Dresden Enterprise!)