PREP FOOTBALL: Greeneville ousts Tennessee High from playoffs

BY BRIAN T. SMITH
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee High Vikings quarterback Taylor Harmon stopped talking.

As Harmon’s blue eyes glowed in the bright, white stadium lights, his left hand — wrapped in white athletic tape, possibly broken — hung down loosely at his side.

Harmon paused and looked away.

He composed himself.

Then Harmon rolled out the names.

Darryal Wilson, Jayson Arnold, Collin Hall, Adam Tabor, Matt McClellan, Trevor Crump.

The names belonged to Tennessee High seniors.

And Harmon sadly knew he’d never play high school football with them again.

“There’s no better teammates,” Harmon said. “And that’s something that you only get once in a lifetime, to play with guys like we did this season. … It was a tight group that played [together] this season. And it’s [hard] to see them go, man. I’m still not ready … ”

Harmon turned away, unable to finish the sentence.

And while Harmon stared into a section of emptied-out stands, Tennessee High slowly walked off the field.

The Vikings’ 2008 season ended on Friday night, with a 30-23 defeat to the Greeneville Greene Devils in a Class 4A second-round playoff game at Burley Stadium.

But Tennessee High (8-4) didn’t go down without a serious fight.

The Vikings — led by another strong performance from Harmon (18-of-27 passing for 263 yards and two touchdowns) — defiantly battled back from a 14-0 first-quarter deficit.

And for Tennessee High, a season filled with resilience and perseverance drew to a close with another gutsy, no-quit performance.

“We fought back all season – that’s what we had to do,” Harmon said. “We fought back from injuries. [We] fought back from being down in [games]. We fought back all season.”

A young Vikings squad fended off setbacks and dead ends all year, replacing youth and inexperience with newly found talent and game-tested skill.

And each time Tennessee High could have buckled and caved – giving in to frustration, negativity and doubt – the Vikings dug deep and found a new reason to fight.

The resilience served the Vikings well on Friday night.

“Everybody on the field gave everything they had tonight,” Harmon said. “It’s just sometimes, that’s not good enough.”

The Vikings’ second-round playoff exit, while disappointing, should provide a strong foundation for next year’s team.

Tennessee High returns three of its top offensive starters next season – Harmon, Keenan Shepard and Bradley Tallman – while a strong collection of young Vikings defenders showed steady improvement throughout the ‘08 campaign.

“These young kids, they played to the end,” Tennessee High coach Greg Stubbs said.

“I take my [hat] off to our kids – they played hard. And we’ve had a good season.”

Xavier King added 75 rushing yards on five carries and a fumble recovery for Tennessee High, while Wilson, Cody Snyder and Corey Young all benefited from Harmon’s strong, accurate right arm.

But Greene Devils (10-2) quarterback Trevon Hall was simply too much, too often for the Vikings.

When Hall wasn’t splitting seams in Tennessee High’s defensive secondary with tight spirals, he was running straight through or around the Vikings’ line.

Hall completed 13 of 18 his passes for 206 yards and one touchdown, and added 90 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries.

“[The field] was wide open,” Hall said. “Everything was just great.”

Greeneville rolled out a six-play, 73-yard scoring drive to open the game, taking just 1 minute, 30 seconds off the clock.

Tennessee High’s offense – which picked up just two first downs and punted three times in the first half – responded with a three-and-out.

The Greene Devils followed with another well-executed, powerful march down the field, this one an 11-play, 85-yard scoring drive.

Tennessee High’s defense looked unprepared and caught off guard in the first quarter, and the Vikings were unable to dent or even slow down the Greene Devils’ swift attack.

As Hall picked apart the soft middle of the Vikings’ defense with slant routes and crossing patterns, Greeneville running back Jeremy Barner (eight carries for 62 yards and one touchdown) sprinted through large holes off-tackle.

Eight penalties for 80 yards slowed Tennessee High’s second-half rally, while the Greene Devils compiled 445 total offensive yards.

“We made some mistakes early and didn’t get ourselves established like we wanted to in the first half,” Stubbs said. “And we had a little problem tonight defending them on the edge.”

Greeneville moves on to play host to Sullivan South at 7 p.m. next Friday in the Class 4A quarterfinals.

btsmith@bristolnews.com|(276) 645-2569

Tennessee High 0 7 6 10—23
Greeneville 14 3 7 6—30
Scoring Summary
GRE – Jeremy Barner 15 run (Ogle kick)
GRE – Barner 20 pass from Trevon Hall (Ogle kick)
GRE – Elliot Malone 20 field goal
TH – Corey Young 43 pass from Taylor Harmon (Ben Perrin kick)
GRE – Hall 2 run (Ogle kick)
TH – Cody Snyder 12 pass from Harmon (kick blocked)
GRE – Hall 7 run (kick failed)
TH – Xavier King 1 run (Perrin kick)
TH – Perrin 29 field goal
Team Stats
First Downs: TH 14, GRE 15; Rushes-Yards: TH 21-146, GRE 25-239; Passing Yards: TH 263, GRE 206; Comp.-Att.-Int.: TH 18-27-0, GRE 13-18-0; Fumbles-Lost: TH 1-0, GRE 1-1; Penalties-Yards: TH 8-80, GRE 4-30.