Greenwood’s Tanner Crouch, left, heads across the goal line after a long reception during Friday’s game against visiting Decatur Central.
Chris Williams | For the Daily Journal
Greenwood has had enough wild Friday nights this fall under first-year coach Justin Boser. A full moon didn’t make this one any less crazy.
A 28-7 first-half lead vanished into the crisp late September air, and visiting Decatur Central came charging back to come away with a 63-42 road win in the sort of anything-goes affair that has become emblematic of the Woodmen and the Mid-State Conference as a whole this season.
The Woodmen last drew even at 42-42 with 3:07 left in the third quarter on a quick seven-play, 67-yard drive that ended with a 3-yard pass from Brock Riddle to Chase Monroe. The Hawks (5-2, 3-2) pulled back in front for good with 10:17 left in the fourth when Polston threw a 33-yard TD pass to Chris Richmond.
Another Richmond touchdown, a 67-yard run up the left sideline, made it 56-42 with 5:25 remaining. Greenwood fumbled the ball away on its next possession, and K.C. Berry capped the scoring with a 20-yard TD run at the 3:55 mark.
For the first quarter and a half, Decatur Central looked like the team that was destined for burial.
After Halbert Aguirre scored on a 24-yard run to give the Hawks an early edge, Riddle threw to a wide-open Tanner Crouch for a 69-yard touchdown to make it 7-7 with 7:30 left in the opening quarter.
After forcing a punt and getting some help from personal foul and encroachment penalties on Decatur Central, the Woodmen again used the deep ball to get into the end zone. Riddle found another uncovered man over the top, this time going to Amare Middleton from 43 yards out. Kyrin York again added the point after, giving Greenwood a 14-7 lead at the 3:55 mark.
Decatur Central quickly got back across midfield, but a fourth-down tackle for loss by Alan Burnett gave the Woodmen the ball back, and Riddle again capitalized on the opportunity. Facing a fourth down of his own to open the second quarter, the senior connected with Monroe for 24 yards and another touchdown. Will Riley intercepted Polston on the next play from scrimmage, and Greenwood needed seven plays to cash in on that turnover; Riddle’s fourth TD pass, a 24-yarder to Crouch, upped the lead to 28-7 with 8:29 remaining before halftime.
The Hawks were on the ropes. And then, the momentum flipped completely.
N’po Dodo finally stopped the bleeding, scoring on an 82-yard run with 3:53 left to trim the deficit to 14. Then, after an ill-advised decision by Greenwood to go for it on fourth down deep in its own territory gave Decatur Central the ball at the Woodmen 19, Dodo found the end zone again on an 8-yard sweep to make it a 28-21 game with 1:43 on the clock.
The next Greenwood possession ended with a blocked punt that gave the Hawks first and goal at the Woodmen 5; two plays later, a 9-yard pass from Polston to Dodo and an Ashton Vogel PAT tied the game with 35.4 seconds to go in the half.
Greenwood’s first possession of the third ended in a punt, but the home team got the ball right back on a leaping interception by Crouch. On the next snap, Riddle and Monroe linked up for a 32-yard touchdown to put the Woodmen back on top.
It took less than a minute for the Hawks to respond in kind; Polston’s 20-yard TD throw to Dodo with 6:57 left in the third knotted the score again at 35-35. The Woodmen then went three and out, and Decatur again struck quickly, reclaiming a seven-point lead at the 5:02 mark when Polston found Berry with a 35-yard toss.
The Woodmen had an answer for that score, tying the game at 42 apiece, but the rest of the night belonged to the Hawks.
Riddle finished with 345 passing yards for Greenwood, which travels to Franklin next week.
