It was Greene County hosting Clarinda at Linduska Field in Jefferson on Friday night in Class 2A District 8 football. Coach Caden Duncan’s Rams won 43-12 to win for the fourth time in a row in the series since 2020, putting them at 2-0 in the district and 4-1 overall. The Cardinals fell to 1-1 and 2-3 after they had won their previous two games. The contest was heard on KG98 and streamed on www.raccoonvalleyradio.com.
Junior quarterback Gabe Ebersole threw for a career high 263 yards and three touchdowns, and he ran for another. Senior Patrick Daugherty ran for 133 yards on 20 carries including a pair of touchdowns and the offense reached a season high 482 yards.
It took just 84 seconds for the Rams to get on the scoreboard after receiving the opening kick. Ebersole found sophomore Camden Strennen on a nine yard pass to cap a five play, 78 yard drive. Daugherty scored on a run of 18 yards moments later to put the Rams up two scores. A pass interception by Richard Daugherty gave the ball back to the Rams and junior kicker Nathan Behne booted a 29 yard field goal to make it a 16-0 game just seconds into the second quarter.
Senior Tadyn Brown returned the kickoff 96 yards for Clarinda’s first points, but the conversion try failed and it was 16-6. Greene County’s Richard Daugherty returned the kick by the Cardinals 68 yards to set up a short four play, 28 yard scoring drive capped by Ebersole’s two yard sneak into the end zone with 9:59 to play in the half. A 97 yard drive covering 14 plays ended with Patrick Daughery’s two yard run with 29 seconds remaining in the opening half and Greene County up 30-6.
Clarinda took the second half kickoff and drove 76 yards on eight plays with Brown getting the TD on a run of eight yards, but again the conversion run failed. Greene County answered with a drive of 81 yards on five plays when sophomore Nicholas Stream took a pass from Ebersole and weaved his way 46 yards to pay dirt for his first varsity touchdown. The final TD of the night capped a 77 yard drive and 10 plays with 5:47 left in the game. Ebersole found a wide open Jesse Miller from 23 yards out for the 43-12 final.
Greene County’s defense has held all five opponents below its season scoring average as well as not allowing as many total yards as they normally gain. The Cardinals had 239 total yards (132 passing, 107 rushing). Senior quarterback Wyatt Schmitt was coming off his best passing game of the season, but the Ram limited him to seven completions in 26 attempts and the one interception.
The Rams play at Red Oak (4-1, 1-1) on Friday night in a game that can be heard on KG98 and streamed on www.raccoonvalleyradio.com with kickoff at 7 o’clock. The Tigers fell by a 19-13 score in Urbandale to Des Moines Christian on Friday night.