GREENVILLE — Friday night’s varsity football contest between Greenville and Trotwood-Madison was a tale of two halves.
The first half was closely contested with the Trotwood Rams holding only a 14-7 lead over the Greenville Green Wave heading into the locker rooms.
The second half? Dramatically different, as the Rams scored 32 unanswered points to defeat the Green Wave by a final score of 46-7.
“We’ve got to be able to block and tackle better,” Greenville head coach Aaron Shaffer said following the game. “The fact is, they may have been 5-3, but that’s still a good Trotwood team.”
The first half held promise, however. A Greenville punt buried the Rams at their own 6-yard line midway through the first quarter.
On first and 10, Ram running back Raveion Hargrove broke through the defense for a 94-yard touchdown run. A successful extra point kick put Trotwood up 7-0.
Both offenses seemingly stalled until 8:37 left in the half when Hargrove scored his second rushing touchdown, running it in from 24 yards out, converting a fourth down and 8.
Greenville, now down 14-0, got good field position on the ensuing kickoff, starting at its 40-yard line. With 6:09 left in the half, Green Wave quarterback Clay Guillozet found wide receiver Aaron Rich on a crossing route for a 19-yard touchdown. The extra point brought Greenville back within seven points.
Greenville had enticing chances to tie up the game with five minutes left in the half courtesy of opportunistic defensive play. However, despite an interception by linebacker Erick Madison returned to the Ram 46-yard line and the recovery of a Trotwood fumble on a muffed punt, the Green Wave offense could not punch its ticket to the end zone.
“If we get it in (before halftime) maybe the momentum changes, but we’ve got to come out of the locker room and play better ball in the second half,” Shaffer said.
Going into next week’s season finale, the Green Wave squad may wish to blot its second-half performance from the memory banks.
The Rams dominated on both sides of the ball, as the Trotwood defense shut down every Greenville offensive series and Hargrove scored two more rushing touchdowns. He would finish the night with four touchdowns and 385 yards on the ground. Ram running back Rondic Brogan added two run TDs of his own.
Despite the loss, Shaffer said, “There’s a lot of things we could point to that were good things, but we’ve got to continue to try to get better.”
The Green Wave (3-6 overall, 1-3 in Greater Western Ohio Conference North Division play) host the Sidney Yellow Jackets (6-3, 2-2 GWOC North) on Friday in their season finale.
