Greenwaves roll past Nelson County, secure playoff berth
By Zach Greenwell The seniors of the Meade County football team (4-5) knew a big win over Nelson County (3-6) on Friday night at Hamilton Field was crucial for a trip to postseason play this year. “We all know we want to be able to go into the playoffs and make some noise,” said senior linebacker T.J. Millay. “In order to do that, we had to come out intense tonight and use this game as a stepping stone to bigger things.” However, after Nelson jumped onto the scoreboard first, the Greenwaves not only stepped past but leapt over the Cardinals, scoring five unanswered touchdowns for a 35-7 victory. “All of our adrenaline was going tonight,” said senior defensive back Josh Stinnett, who had five tackles, including one for a loss. “We wanted to come up big on senior night and that’s just what we did.” Meade held Nelson to only 140 total yards for the night, 62 of which the Cardinals gained on a touchdown run up the middle by quarterback Jordan Keene with 9:33 left in the first quarter. The Greenwaves quickly responded as junior quarterback J.L. Cannady capped off an 80-yard drive with a 1-yard keeper to tie the game at 7-7. Meade regained possession early in the second quarter at the Cardinal 25-yard line after a fumble by Nelson’s Keene, and Cannady capitalized quickly by finding senior back Ned Brown across the middle for a 25-yard TD reception with 11:32 left in the half. Cannady accounted for all of Meade’s scoring, running for one score while completing 20-35 passes for 299 yards and four touchdowns. “I was pretty pleased with my performance,” said Cannady. “We had a lot of guys step up and make big plays for us. Our offensive line had one of their better performances, and that usually equals success for the team.” The Greenwave defense continued to hound the Cardinals throughout the second quarter, forcing a fumble, a punt and a failed fourth-down attempt on Nelson’s next three drives. “We had a really good week of practice,” said senior defensive back Brandon Dunn, who totaled two tackles for a loss, a sack and a forced fumbled in the game. “We knew we had to step up as a team, and I think we did a good job of it.” Meade jumped on the board one more time before halftime as Cannady connected with junior wideout Daniel Allen three times on a 56-yard drive, including a 29-yard TD strike on the left side with 3.4 seconds remaining to give the Greenwaves a 21-7 lead. Meade’s advantage only continued to grow in the third quarter when Cannady found sophomore Alex Furnival and junior Nick Stinnett across the middle for touchdown receptions of 16 and 53 yards within a four-minute span. Stinnett totaled 116 yards receiving on four catches in the game. “It’s great that our offense is coming together now and being productive heading into the playoffs,” said Cannady. “To be truthful, I wish it would’ve happened a little bit sooner, but I think it’s very important to have the momentum we do as we head into these playoff games.” Nelson found no success late in the game, as the Greenwave defense forced them into three punts in the fourth quarter that sealed the game. The win was the fourth of the year for Meade, and effectively secured a playoff berth. “Tonight was emotional with it being senior night, but we know that we want to come back here for the regional finals,” said Millay. “Tonight was a big part of getting to do that and it was good team effort.” The win was especially sweet for Meade’s 10 seniors, who were interviewed by Jason Sutton and Jeff Greer on the WMMG post- game show, and then joined each other on the 50-yard line to reflect on their last regular season game at Hamilton Field. “It was a great feeling tonight,” said senior wide receiver Gary Rhea. “My teammates and I have been working for this since the 5th-grade and it shows that the more you put into this game, the more you get out of it.” “When these guys were freshmen, we had 30 to 35 guys in the class,” said Greenwave head coach Larry Mofield. “However, these nine that are left, along with Chad (Bruner) who joined us this year, stuck with it and showed that they had the drive and courage to be leaders of this team. I will remember these guys because of that toughness and strength of character, and I know they will win in life because of those things.”
The Greenwaves travel to Bullitt Central Oct. 27 for their final game of the regular season. Game time is 7:30 p.m. Nelson Co. 7 0 0 0 – 7 Second Quarter Third Quarter Individual Statistics Passing: Receiving:
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Photo by Brian Alsip
Photo by Brian Alsip