A fourth quarter score and a red zone stop helped Atlantic gut out a 21-17 win over Greene County on Friday night at the Trojan Bowl. Atlantic moves to 4-0 to start the season; the first time that’s happened in decades.
The game started a little rough for Atlantic with an opening drive interception on a fourth-down play. That set Greene County up at the Trojan 20-yard line, and they eventually got a 32-yard field goal to open the scoring. The two teams then traded punts and Atlantic was able to change momentum when the Rams booted it away. Ethan McNeal caught it on the run and bolted to a 50-yard punt return touchdown to put Atlantic on top. Two drives later Atlantic capped a long drive with a 4-yard touchdown run by Gavin McLaren. The Trojans would take that 14-3 lead to the half.
Greene County then struck back when Trevon Keely took the 2nd half kickoff back 80-yards for a touchdown. The point after attempt failed making it a 14-9 score. Four possessions later the Rams hit on two big pass plays to Keely to take the lead. Crew Conner hit Keely on a 14-yard pass to score. The Rams then ended up going for 2 and after initially being ruled short, the officials changed the call to deem the try good, putting Atlantic down 3.
The Trojans wasted no time in responding. Two big runs from Tyson O’Brien put Atlantic back on top. The second run being a 45-yard score. The point after try was good and Atlantic was back in front 21-17. Greene County drove all the way to the Trojan ten, but back-to-back incompletions would end the Rams chances. Atlantic got the ball back on down with 2:24 to go and grinded the clock down to :38 left. After a timeout the Trojans brought the offense out on 4th down and successfully got the Rams to jump offsides with a hard count to seal the game.
Listen to the postgame interview with Atlantic Head Coach Joe Brummer:
Atlantic will take their 4-0 mark on the road to Winterset next week. We’ll have coverage on KJAN. Watch the full replay of the game HERE.