Big first half dooms the Tigers in 28-0 loss

JEFFERSON — Early scoring kept Red Oak from getting their first win this season as they lost Friday night to the Greene County Rams, 28-0.

Greene County scored all of their points in the first 14 minutes of the game as quarterback Tory Berger had four touchdown passes.

“We did not start out the way that we really would have liked,” Red Oak Head Football Coach Jeff Spotts said. “We wanted to execute better than what we did. The kids did, the coaches did, we feel bad about that.”

The first score came less than two minutes into the game when Berger completed a 23-yard touchdown pass to Matt Paulsen. Greene County led 7-0, following the point after try.

The Rams next score came with 3:38 left in the first quarter when Berger completed an 8-yard touchdown pass to TJ Lint. Greene County missed the extra point, but still led 13-0.

Two minutes later, Berger had his third touchdown pass, which once again went to Lint for 11-yards. The extra point was made this time and the lead was 20-0.

Greene County’s last touchdown came on a 27-yard pass from Berger to Dylan Schilling. The Rams converted the two-point play and led 28-0 as the scoring halted from there. Spotts said the focus for the defense was to go after Berger.

“When we went after the quarterback, things got better for us defensively and I was excited to see that because there were times where we didn’t know if things were going to get out of hand,” Spotts said. “You give up 28 points in the first quarter and a half, that’s quite a bit.”

Nathan Guffey finished the game as the leading tackler for Red Oak, recording 11 tackles including four solo.

On offense, Evan Mellott was once again the feature back for the Tigers running back committee, carrying the ball 22 times for 82 yards. In four games this season, Mellott has 298 yards on 68 carries. Nick Leinen finished the game with 43 yards on eight carries for the Tigers.

Ryan Leininger completed two passes the game for 24 yards. Jose Perez was the leading receiver with 20 yards on a catch.

The Tigers have their best chance to end their losing streak this Friday night when they play Clarinda Academy for Homecoming. Clarinda Academy has a lengthy losing streak of their own as they have not won a game since week one of the 2010 season, when they defeated Martensdale St. Marys, 18-15. The game starts at 7 p.m. at Russ Benda Field.