Greene County hosted the “Battle for the Cowbell” Friday night on Linduska Field with overwhelming success. The Rams used a big third quarter to break open a close game with Perry, winning the right to keep the cow bell for another year with a 55-14 win.
Greene County scored first with an 80 yard, seven play drive on their first possession. Quarterback Gabe Ebersole scored on a one yard run for the TD. With Nathan Behne’s PAT, the score was 7-0 with only three minutes off the clock.
The Rams scored again on their next possession, another 80 yard drive that culminated with a 49 yard Ebersole pass play to wide receiver Jack Hansen. With Behne’s PAT the Rams led 14-0 with 1:21 left on the clock in the first quarter.
The Blue Jays scored on their next drive, their second possession of the game, covering 80 yards in nine plays, finished with a short pass from QB Geren Kenney to wide receiver Trey Hofbauer. Roberto Gomez’s PAT was good and the score was 14-7 with 9:46 left in the second quarter.
The Rams scored five plays later when, at fourth down and 8 from the Perry 38 yard line, Behne kicked a career-high field goal of 44 yards. That gave the Rams a 10 point margin at 17-7.
The Blue Jays shortened the margin with a 8 play drive that included a Ram interception being nullified by a penalty for roughing the passer and the Blue Jays later recovering their own fumble. Gomez’s PAT put the score at 17-14.
The Rams scored once more in the half on a Behne field goal from 42 yards out. The score at half time was 20-14 in favor of the host Rams.
The Blue Jays showed remarkable improvement from last season in the first half of play, but they didn’t have what was needed to keep up with the Rams for two full halves of football on a warm, muggy night.
The second half belonged to the Rams. Perry received the kick off to start the second half. In four plays they moved the ball to their own 36 yard line before Ram Nick Stream recovered a fumble. The next four plays covered the needed yardage, with Ram Camden Strennen carrying the ball on three of them, including a 16-yard run to the end zone behind Hansen’s blocking. With Behne’s PAT the score was 27-14 with 9:25 remaining in the third quarter.
The Blue Jays punted to end their next possession, having covered only five yards to their own 25 yard line. The Perry defense played tough, and it took the Rams nine plays to cover 65 yards to score again. Nick Stream was key in the drive, and it was he who carried the ball across the goal line. With Behne’s kick the score was 34-14 with 4:58 remaining in the third quarter.
The Rams scored once more in the quarter, with a five play, 48-yard drive that ended with Strennen again carrying the ball. With Behne’s unerring foot, the score was 41-14 as the quarter ended.
The Rams scored quickly in the fourth quarter following an interception by Nick Madsen on Perry’s third play of the quarter. The Rams took possession of the ball on the Perry 29 yard line and scored with an Ebersole pass to Trey Schilling. After the PAT the score was 48-14. Ram coach Caden Duncan put some reserves in at that point, but left Ebersole in as QB.
Perry ended their next possession with a punt, but a bad snap on the punt made the next score easy for the Rams, as they only needed to cover one yard for the TD. Cody Allen took the pigskin over the goal line to score, and with the PAT the score was 55-14 with 6:52 left in the game. The clock began running continuously and several more Ram reserves played.
Game leaders for the Rams were Gabe Ebersole, with 252 passing yards, three passing touchdowns, 77 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown. Jack Hansen had 160 receiving yards and was credited with one touchdown. Cody Allen led the team in tackles with three solo tackles, 10 tackles total.
As a team, the Rams accumulated 422 yards of offense, with Ebersole completing 12 of 17 passes for 252 yards through the air. He contributed 77 yards of rushing, as Strennen added 54, Stream had 33, Hansen had five yards and Allen had his one yard. The Rams scored on all nine of their possessions.
The Blue Jays had 245 yards of total offense, with 201 of that being in the first half. Kenney completed nine of 15 passes for 106 yards. Alix Colas led in rushing for Perry with 67 yards, followed by Kenney with 41 yards.
The Rams have won six consecutive years in the cow bell series and hold a 62-29-2 advantage for the 93 times the cowbell has been contested. The Rotary Clubs from Perry and Jefferson donated an actual cow bell in 1928 and the same bell has gone to the winning team’s school since then.
Both teams are now 1-1 on the season.
The Rams host Atlantic on Sept. 8, for their last non-district game of the season, all against Class 3A opponents. The Trojans are 1-1 on the season.
Greene County 55 ~ Perry 14
Passing: Gabe Ebersole 12/17, 3 TDs
Rushing: Jack Hansen 1 for 5 yards; Nick Stream 8 for 33 yards, 1 TD; Camden Strennen 6 for 54 yards 1 TD; Ebersole 9 for 77 yards 1 TD; Cody Allen 1 for 1 yard 1 TD
Receiving: Hansen 7 for 160 yards 1 TD; Stream 1 for 41 yards; Strennen 3 for 22 yards 1 TD; Trey Schilling 1 for 29 yards 1 TD
Tackles: Hansen 1 solo, 2; Nick Madsen 1 solo, 2; Stream 4 solo, 7; Camden Jacobs 1 solo; Strennen 4 solo, 6; Schilling 4 solo, 7; Crew Conner 1; Broc Stream 1 solo; Kendall Freeman .5; Gavin Scheuermann 3 solo, 3.5, Cody Allen 3 solo, 10, .5 QB sack; Ethan Carstens .5; Degan Miller 1; Chrisotpher Daugherty 3 solo, 7; Jackson Turner 1.5; Bryce Habben 2 solo, 2.5, QB sack; Noah Cornell 1; Joey Frantz .5; Michael Rumley .5; Kamden Kinney .5
Fumble Recovery: Nick Stream 1
Interceptions: Hansen 1; Nick Madsen 1
Kick Returns: Nick Stream 2, 47 yards
Kicking: Nathan Behne, 10 kickoffs, 6 touchbacks for 575 yards; Field Goals 2/2, 44 yards long; PAT 7/7 ~with Taylor Teays for The Scranton Journal
