~by Taylor Teays for The Scranton Journal
The Greene County football season came to an end Friday after a 34-14 loss to OABCIG in the second round of Class 2A playoffs.
In the first quarter, the Falcons racked up 20 points and held the Rams to zero. The Falcons scored in the first minute and a half of the game but missed on a two-point conversion to hold a 6-0 lead. They scored again four minutes later and again missed a two-point conversion, putting their lead at 12-0. The Rams fumbled on their own 15 yard line on the first play after the Falcon TD, The Falcons needed three plays to score. The conversion didn’t work again, and the Falcons were up 20-0. With just shy of three minutes left in the quarter, Ram quarterback Bryce Stalder tossed a pass to Richard Daugherty for a touchdown. Nathan Behne booted the extra point making the score 20-7.
The Falcons started the action in the second quarter with another touchdown two minutes into the quarter, increasing their lead 28-7. With no time to spare before halftime, the Rams found the end zone once again with a pass from Stalder to Daugherty. Behne’s kick was good, bringing the score to 28-14 with the Falcons in the lead.
The second half of the game didn’t bring much scoring action with just one TD by the Falcons three minutes into the third quarter. The game ended 34-14, which closed the book for the 2021 Greene County football season.
The Falcons gained 239 yards on the ground and 147 in the air. Beckett DeJean was a one-man wrecking crew as he completed 21 passes for two touchdowns and rushed 19 times for 102 yards and three TDs. On defense, the junior had nine solo tackles.
The Rams gained 206 yards in the air and 93 on the ground. They lost three fumbles and yielded three pass interceptions.
Senior QB Bryce Stalder completed 17 passes out of 32 attempts for two touchdowns. Junior Richard Daugherty caught six aerials for 64 yards and two touchdowns. Senior Jackson Morton snared five passes for 63 yards. Senior Max Riley grabbed four aerials for 64 yards and senior Brenner Gallagher caught two passes for 15 yards.
Stalder scrambled 15 times for 46 yards. Senior Nathan Black ran nine times for 22 yards. Junior Patrick Daugherty rushed six times for 24 yards. Morton lost 10 yards on three carries but R. Daugherty gained 11 yards on one carry.
P. Daugherty recovered a Falcon fumble and intercepted a pass with a 25-yard return. Other defensive statistics were not available at press time. He returned one kick for 12 yards. Morton fielded three kicks for 37 yards. Sophomore Gabe Ebersole took two kicks for six yards.
Sophomore Nathan Behne kicked off twice for 103 yards. Black punted twice for 50 yards.
Greene County ends the season at 8-2, losing the first and last games of 2021 with eight straight wins in between. OABCIG (9-1) advances to meet Southeast Valley (Gowrie).
