By Jim Mashek – Sporting Times
For three quarters, and some change, it had the look of a solid if not spectacular victory for Greenwood High’s football team.
Then, senior quarterback John Morrison was injured midway through the fourth quarter, and things quickly unraveled for the Gators on Friday night. Still, after surrendering two touchdowns, with two subsequent two-point conversions, in the final five minutes, Greenwood escaped with a 25-24 victory.
Greenwood improved to 5-0 overall and 1-0 in Region 1, District 2 play. The Colonels fell to 1-1 and 0-1, respectively, while throwing a scare at the Gators in the fourth quarter.
Third-year Greenwood coach William Howard was openly concerned about Morrison’s injury when it was over. Two of Morrison’s teammates said he appeared to leave the stadium with a broken left collarbone.
“I thought, at times, we played really well,” Howard said. “And then at times, we didn’t. We’ve got to determine if it’s personnel or something we need to look at as coaches. We’ll look at the game film and go from there.
“I really don’t know anything about John (Morrison). Not yet.”
The Gators actually led 25-8 after sophomore placekicker Drew Smothers drilled a 22-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter. Greenwood had a couple chances to put Christian County away, but senior quarterback Donta Abren kept throwing deep, and he found Joseph Alexander for a 54-yard touchdown pass with 4:28 left in the game.
The Colonels’ LRay Coleman added the two-point conversion on a running play, and suddenly Christian County trailed by only 25-16.
“We’ve got to step it up,” Greenwood linebacker Evan Ellison said. “We let up at the end. We’ve got to work hard. We all need to be more accountable in practice.”
Ellison had a solid game for the Gators, but he was particularly irked when they gave up by unsportsmanlike conduct calls on back-to-back plays by the Greenwood defense and a late drive that pulled Christian County to within a single point with 1:11 left in the game.
Abren and Alexander beat the Gators again, hooking up for a 57-yard touchdown pass. Abren ran a quarterback draw to perfection for the two-point conversion and the Colonels were within a single point at 25-24.
Then Christian County made a critical mistake.
Greenwood freshman Cooper Davis handled two onside kick attempts in the fourth quarter. Davis was asked if those were his first plays as a varsity football player.
“Yes, sir,” Davis said.
Davis was filling in for Morrison on the Gators’ “hands team” and he both of them count as the Colonels scrambled to get back in the game.
“We’ve got to do a better job of finishing the game out,” Greenwood linebacker Walton Howard said.
“I don’t like the way we played,” defensive end Cody Riney added.
Odom scored on a 24-yard touchdown run with 5:58 left in the third quarter to make it 22-8, and the Gators’ defense had turned in a solid performance until then.
The Colonels got on the scoreboard on the final play of the first quarter, another swing pass from Abren that resulted in a 66-yard touchdown catch. Abren got the ball to sophomore running back Oscar Adams in the end zone for the two-point conversion.
Greenwood scored the game’s first points on a safety after the Colonels botched an attempted punt deep in their territory. Then Morrison found Walton Howard, a sophomore defensive starter, in the back of the end zone for a 7-yard TD pass at the 6:41 mark of the first quarter.
The extra point attempt failed, and Greenwood led 8-0.
In hindsight, the safety in the opening moments might very well be the difference.
Greenwood travels to play crosstown rival South Warren (3-0, 1-0) next week. The Spartans had an open date on Friday night.
“We have to play better,” William Howard said. “There’s no doubt about it.”
Howard’s players were quick to concur.
“There were a lot of problems with our execution,” Ellison said. “We’ve got to play a lot better at South Warren. Definitely.”
The Colonels twice defeated Greenwood during the 2019 season, knocking Greenwod out of the KHSAA 5A playoffs with a 33-11 victory at South Warren.
That’s why the victory over Christian County seemed a little awkward.
“I thought we played a little soft, early on,” senior nose tackle Jonathan Gornik said. “We’ve just got to learn how to finish the game out. We kind of let our emotions get the best of us (after Morrison’s injury).
“Time to get back to work.”
