Greene County made its final football home game for 2015 at Linduska Field in Jefferson memorable on Friday night. First of all the Rams won for a second straight year over the Toreadors to improve to 4-4 overall and 2-3 in CLass 3A District 2. Secondly, the contest was the highest scoring varsity game in some years involving the Rams as Greene County prevailed 49-42. The teams combined for close to 1,000 yards of offense with the Rams at 513 to 469 for the Toreadors (2-6, 2-3).
Both quarterbacks entered the contest as marquee perfumers and both were outstanding. Ram senior Daric Whipple had a career best 253 rushing yards on 32 carries, and was 15 of 20 through the air for 210 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions. At one point of the first half Whipple completed 12 straight passes. The Rams QB had TD runs of one, 95, and 24 yards. One touchdown pass was for 20 yards to junior Nick Schroeder and the other was just before halftime to senior Tyler Beger to give the Rams a 28-14 halftime lead. Whipple’s 95 yard jaunt early in the second half put the Rams up 35-14 before the Toreadors made it a one possession game. In seven games (missed one due to illness) the run/pass threat QB has 1,382 passing yards and 16 touchdowns, and 1,018 rushing yards and 13 TDs.
Senior running back Max Neese opened the scoring with a four yard run in the first period.
Boone junior QB Tanner Schminke threw for three TD passes, all to 6′ 6″ sophomore Jon Herrick, and he ran for two as Schminke mirrored Whipple in accounting for much of Boone’s offense. Schminke was 25 of 48 for 305 yards passing. He was picked off twice, both in the fourth quarter. One was by junior safety Logan Lansman, who returned it 65 yards for a touchdown and gave the Rams a 49-35 lead. The other was by senior Reid Lamoureux late in the contest and that INT led to the Rams being able to run out the clock. Schminke ran the ball 17 times for 122 yards and he scored on running plays of 11 and 22 yards. The Toreadors also scored when offensive tackle Brody Woodruff recovered a fumble by the Toredaors on a play that started at the one and the ball was jarred loose and went into the end zone.
The Rams will attempt to close the regular season with an upset over Carroll, the second place team in the district. The Tigers (5-3, 4-1) thumped Algona, 63-0 in Kossuth County. Coverage on KG98 begins at 6:30 p.m. with kickoff at 7:30 p.m. The game can also be heard on www.raccoonvalleyradio.com.