By JIM STEELE
mckenzierebels.com

GREENFIELD - Extra, extra, read all about it: McKenzie 41, Greenfield 8.

That's what Friday morning's paper should read. But in the days preceding Thursday night's Region 7A encounter between McKenzie and Greenfield, there were tacit suggestions in regional publications and on statewide message boards that the host Yellow Jackets were primed to upset McKenzie.

The Yellow Jackets were 4-2 and had raced to a 3-0 Region 7A record, tied with McKenzie for the top spot in the league. They are off to one of their best starts in perhaps 17 years. Problem is, McKenzie read the press clippings, posted it on the locker room bulletin board then made it their imperative to not tip the cosmic balance.

Even though Greenfield, boiling with adrenaline, took the opening drive seven plays and 73 yards for a touchdown and two-point conversion, the Rebels responded en masse, scoring 41 unanswered points and, in the process, captured a playoff berth for the 11th straight season.

"The kids took it to heart after that article on Greenfield in the Jackson Sun," said McKenzie coach Wade Comer. "I think the kids took offense because they think we have a pretty good football team ourselves."

Thursday morning, the Jackson Sun ran a feature on the Yellow Jackets start and in Sunday's sports section on the prep football page, there was a sub section called, "The Upsets" and it listed McKenzie's game at Greenfield as a game to watch. It didn't pick McKenzie to lose, necessarily, but many Rebel players inferred, from the subtitle, a pick against the Rebs. Not a good thing for the Yellow Jackets.

"We wanted to make a statement tonight and I think we did that," said Comer. "The kids stepped it up a notch and we were ready to play."

So was Greenfield early. The Yellow Jackets broke a 36-yard run on the second play from scrimmage from Chase McMullen and broke the ice with a 14-yard pass from Colin Medling to Brian Ricketts. Brett Perkins ran in the deuce and a spirited Yellow Jacket team held an 8-0 lead.

"They came out and popped us a couple of times and drove down the field and scored on us," said Comer. "We bounced back and rang the bell."

The Rebels responded quickly. They moved 73 yards in four plays ending in another home-run ball from Carr to one of his receivers. This time, senior Rusty Chapman ran under a 48-yard pass. The PAT kick missed, but the Rebels were on the board, trailing 8-6. Chapman had four catches for 82 yards.

During Greenfield's next series, MHS sophomore Jake Johnson recovered a fumble and McKenzie was back in business. This time, senior Tyler Moore capped a 10-play, 44-yard drive at the end of the first with a 1-yard score. The PAT pass failed, but McKenzie had edged in front to stay, 12-8. Moore had 15 carries for 90 yards.

McKenzie made use of its special team proficiency. Greenfield punter Stephen Woods chased a punt snap that went over his head from the Jacket 24. McKenzie senior John Campbell covered it in the corner of the end zone, Carr found Clint Kee for the deuce and MHS was up 20-8 and rather quickly with 9:37 to play in the second.

On the next McKenzie possession, Moore scored his second TD of the night. He took another yard plunge with 4:15 to play. Laughrey booted the PAT and McKenzie led 27-8.

The Rebels had a chance to go up by even more before the half, but they missed field goal at the end of the half.

Quinton Bowden made his own statement with the second-half kickoff. He darted 96 yards for the touchdown, but the Rebels were zapped with an unsportsmanlike conduct call after the score, which meant Laughrey had to kick a 35-yard extra point. He did and MHS led 34-8 right out of the gate.

Late in the fourth, McKenzie sophomore Austin McKinney swept to the left side, ran past the Greenfield secondary and took a 59-yard run to the house. Laughrey booted his last PAT and McKenzie had salted away a 41-8 victory. Tyler Sisson recovered a Greenfield fumble with 20. 6 seconds left and the Rebels were on their way to a 4-0 mark in Region 7A.

"The effort was there, though I think we lost our focus a little bit in the second half," Comer said. "We didn't execute as well there, but outside of that, I thought we played a pretty good game."

The Rebs were flagged eight times for 65 yards, which was a bit nettlesome, especially with the nullification of two touchdowns.

"We had some plays called back and that frustrated us," said the coach. "We overcame all that."

It was a physical game.

"We hit them hard, made plays and manhandled some of them," Comer said. "Our kids are getting stronger and they are taking a lot of pride in that and it's not just one or two people making plays; it's someone else every night making plays."

Medling led the Yellow Jackets with five carries for 44 yards. Chase McMullen led Greenfield with seven stops.

John Campbell had 12 tackles, a fumble recovery for a TD and a tackle for loss to lead McKenzie. Bowden had 3 returns for 117 yards and a touchdown. Shabree Payne had two receptions for 59 yards.

Greenfield falls to 4-3, 3-1 in the region, and will host Union City next Friday night. Meanwhile, McKenzie, 6-1, 4-0 in 7A, travels to West Carroll Friday.