<p>Greenwood discovered that despite a losing record, they aren’t too far from the top.</p>
<p>That’s because No. 1 and unbeaten East Central had to scratch, claw and fight against the Woodmen, topping Greenwood, 49-35 in a Class 4A sectional semifinal Friday night.</p>
<p>Greenwood’s season ends at 4-7, while the Trojans continue with a perfect 11-0 record that now might have a question mark at the end, at least as far as the Woodmen are concerned.</p>
<p>But East Central continues to be a nemesis of the Woodmen at tournament time.</p>
<p>Going back to 1985, East Central has beaten the Woodmen six straight times in the playoffs, including a 27-14 semistate heartbreaker two years ago on the way to the Class 4A state championship. The other wins were in either sectional quarterfinal or semifinal contests.</p>
<p>The Trojans threatened to run away with it early. East Central’s Jake Fike ran for scores of 21 and 3 yards in the first quarter and had a startling 186 yards rushing in the first half alone.</p>
<p>Despite the yardage, Greenwood played it tough and on its first possession, the Woodmen made it to the East Central 10 before quarterback Oliver Rau fumbled. East Central’s Andy Streuwing recovered to end the threat.</p>
<p>Greenwood then rolled the dice, going for it on a fourth and 2 on its own 23. A hard count had a Trojan player jump for a free first down.</p>
<p>A one-handed grab by Jaydin Sheppard kept the Woodmen’s second quarter drive alive and just minutes later, Rau hit Bryce Hoffman for a 14-yard score to make it 14-7.</p>
<p>Fike scored again, this time from the 4 and East Central’s lead swelled. But only temporarily.</p>
<p>Greenwood caught fire thanks to four 15-yard penalties and a fumble, all within two minutes.</p>
<p>Then Rau hit Hoffman again, this time for 25 yards, and suddenly the Woodmen were within a touchdown. Fike then fumbled at the Greenwood 37 and like that the Woodmen took the gift, with another Rau to Hoffman pass play for 10 yards to tie it at 21.</p>
<p>The Trojan defense, which has been stingy all season, giving up only 6.1 points a game, was having fits against the versatile Rau, as evidenced when the senior threw his fourth touchdown pass, this time for 76 yards and to Sheppard.</p>
<p>East Central abandoned the ground for at least one play with quarterback Ryan Bond hitting Trevor Becker from 12 yards. The Trojans then finally solved Rau as Dave Badescu intercepted him and ran 44 yards untouched to give the visitors a 42-28 cushion.</p>
<p>Rau hit Sheppard for the third time from 28 yards to pull the Woodmen within six again before Fike took control and ran in for the final score from 24 yards out.</p>
<p>Fike ran for 285 yards and five touchdowns total. Rau led the Woodmen with 277 yards passing and five touchdown passes as well as 73 yards rushing.</p>
<p>Greenwood’s streak of making the sectional finals ended at four consecutive years.</p>
