A much more experienced Greene County High School football team won the annual “Battle for the Cowbell” over Perry on Friday night in season opening action for both teams. The game was heard on KG98 and streamed on www.raccoonvalleyradio.com from Linduska Field as new Greene County head coach Caden Duncan started his career with a 54-0 victory.
The Rams totaled 347 yards of offense to 35 for the Blue Jays. The running game produced 216 yards on 23 attempts while the passing game was eight of 14 for 131 yards. Perry ran the ball 39 times for 11 yards and went four of nine passing for 24 more.
Greene County had three touchdowns from Carter Morton. The senior caught TD passes for 12 and 32 yards, and he also returned a punt 70 yards. Senior Colby Kafer had rushing touchdowns of 11 and 14 yards. Senior Brent Riley had a rushing TD that covered 13 yards, and he threw for two other scores, both to Morton. The defense scored twice- once on a Joe Patterson fumble return covering five yards, and a Nick Breon 20 yard interception return. Both are seniors. Greene County scored in every quarter with 14 points in the first period, 13 in the second, 20 int he third, and seven in the fourth.
Kafer led the Rams on the ground with 179 yards on only nine carries while Riley went 8-14-1 for the 131 passing yards. Morton finished with five receptions for 94 yards.
Breon also recovered a Perry fumble and Morton blocked a field goal attempt. Sophomore Jackson Morton recorded his first career pass interception. In 2018 at Perry, the Rams were flagged 22 times and assessed 218 penalty yards. This time around, there were just four times Greene County had penalty yards marked off, and offsetting penalties occurred once.
Punter Cori Alamina led Perry with 41 rushing yards on four attempts, all coming by advancing bad snaps and running fake punts.
Next up for Greene County is a Sept. 6 trip to Nevada to face the Cubs. Nevada began the season with a 26-15 road victory in Alleman vs. North Polk. The Rams and Cubs can be heard on KG98 and streamed on www.raccoonvalleyradio.com with coverage at 6 p.m. and kickoff at 7 p.m.