When the 2017 high school football season began for the Greene County Rams, the schedule was challenging, especially the first four weeks. Now that the regular season is over and the playoff qualifiers are known, the records bear that out.

The Rams played Kuemper Catholic (Carroll), Harlan Community, Dallas Center-Grimes, and Webster City, in that order the first four weeks of the season. All four qualified for the playoffs with Harlan and DC-G winning district titles and Kuemper Catholic and Webster City finishing as runners-up in their districts. Those four teams went a combined 32-4 with the Knights at 7-2, Cyclones 8-1, Mustangs 9-0, and Lynx 8-1. Greene County lost to those four as follows; Kuemper Catholic 21-14, Harlan 41-7, DC-G 31-12, Webster City 40-18.

Overall, the nine Greene County opponents went 50-32, and Coach Mitch Moore’s first Greene County team was 1-8 overall and 1-6 in Class 3A District 2. DC-G won the district and WC was second. Six of the nine Greene County opponents had winning records. The Rams played three games in 2017 decided by seven points or less and went 0-3 in those games. In addition to the seven-point loss to Kuemper, Greene County lost by six points at Gilbert, and by three in overtime at Perry.

Although there were 14 seniors on the team, only nine of the 22 offensive and defensive starting positions were regularly held by seniors. Unlike 2017, next season should provide the coaching staff with a much more experienced team, as well as 2018 being the second year under Coach Moore’s system.