Greene County took the football down the field on the first possession of the game and scored a touchdown. Creston/Orient-Macksburg did the same with their first possession and it looked like a shootout was in the offing, but the Rams did not put another point on the board and the visiting Panthers won 23-7 in non-district football Friday night at Lindsuska Field in Jefferson.

Quarterback Daric Whipple found receiver Jake Carey in the end zone for an 11-yard TD pass with 8:07 to play in the first quarter to cap an eight play, 75 yard drive for the Rams. C/O-M counted with a TD drive of 85 yards on seven plays with 5:44 to play in the opening stanza. Chase Schiltz scored on a run of 10 yards. The Panthers went up 10-7 on a 52-yard field goal by Conner Pals with 1:07 to play before halftime. The kicker did have a southerly breeze at his back, but the boot easily cleared the cross bar for one of the longest field goals ever in a game involving a Jefferson-based team, and high school football has been played in Jefferson since 1898.

The Panthers increased the lead to 17-7 on a 32 yard Alex Neilsen pass to Bryce Briley with 4:41 to play in the third quarter, and the final points were scored with 1:59 to go in the game on a Neilsen sneak of one yard. Pals missed the last extra point try for a final score of 23-7.

The Rams had 250 yards of total offense with 203 on the ground led by senior Dylan Hamilton’s 106 yards on 18 carries. Whipple ran 11 times for 65 yards and he was 7-15-1 passing for 47 yards. Greene County was penalized seven times for 73 yards and one of the penalties wiped out a Hamilton TD run in the first half.

C/O-M entered the game averaging 401 yards and 33 points per contest. On Friday, the Panthers had 23 points and 314 yards. Nielsen was nine of 22 throwing the ball for 194 yards and two interceptions. Matthew Gordon and Max Neese both had first half picks. Nielson ran for 72 yards and Schiltz added 51 on the ground.

Turnovers in the game were even at two. The Rams turned the ball over for the first time since the season opener.

Greene County hits the road on Sept. 26 for a Class 3A District 2 meeting with Webster City. The Lynx (1-3, 1-1) easily won in Algona on Friday night by a 63-7 score. The Rams (1-3, 1-0) were 21-6 winners over the Bulldogs in Jefferson on Sept. 12.

Coverage of the Rams and Lynx on KG98 begins Friday at 6:45 p.m. with kickoff set for 7:30 p.m.