After a 3-0 start to the season that featured high-flying offensive fireworks on both sides of the ball, Greenwood’s home football opener Friday against Mid-State Conference rival Mooresville was no different.
There was one outlier, however, and it was the most important one — for the first time, the Woodmen finished on the wrong side of the scoreboard.
The Pioneers turned three Woodmen turnovers into touchdowns, and scored on all but two of their 12 possessions en route to a 59-22 victory. The only two possessions in which Mooresville didn’t score came at the end of each half.
The loss dropped Greenwood to 3-1 overall and 1-1 in Mid-State play, while Mooresville improved to 2-2 and 1-1.
Mooresville took complete control of the game with a pair of touchdowns shortly before halftime. After Greenwood cut the Pioneers’ lead to 17-8 on an Alan Burnett 3-yard touchdown run, Mooresville responded with a nine-play, 76-yard touchdown drive to extend its lead to 24-8.
Three plays later, the Woodmen’s Tanner Crouch hauled in a 27-yard reception. As he was extending the play to the Pioneers’ 45-yard line, he fumbled just before hitting the ground. Mooresville recovered, and three plays later found the end zone again. That extended the Pioneers’ lead to 31-8 with 1:16 left in the half, and Greenwood never drew closer than 17 points after that.
“We’ve struggled to stop people all year, and we didn’t make them punt one time,” Greenwood coach Justin Boser said. “We turned the ball over four times, and you can’t win games that way. It’s a tough way to win when you’re trying to outscore people every Friday night, so we’ve got to clean our defense up, and we can’t make mistakes on offense.”
Turnovers aside, Greenwood’s offense moved the ball effectively most of the night. The Woodmen piled up 408 yards of offense, including 250 through the air. Quarterback Brock Riddle completed 20 of 31 passes, including two touchdown passes, but both of his interceptions led to Mooresville touchdowns. The rushing attack amassed 158 yards but lost two fumbles.
Meanwhile, the Pioneers outgained the Woodmen through the air (barely, with 258 yards), but quarterback Hogan Denny threw five touchdown passes. He added 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Greenwood compiled 20 first downs, and Riddle completed passes to four different receivers. Amare Middleton led the way with nine catches for 125 yards and two touchdowns. Alan Burnett added 80 yards rushing and a touchdown, while Riddle ran for 85 yards.
“We know if we get down, we have the ability to come back,” Boser said of Greenwood’s offense. “We just got outside of ourselves, didn’t make the simple plays that we needed to. I didn’t call a good game. Being 3-0 is a lot of fun, but sometimes you need to be humbled, and we were humbled.”
Greenwood plays next Friday at Class 5A No. 6 Plainfield.
