By ADAM WELCH
pressbox1.com

ATWOOD - Friday night’s game between West Carroll and Greenfield featured many high’s, low’s, and momentum changing plays. The biggest may have come from Greenfield’s Daniel Ricketts whose 78 yard kickoff return late in the third quarter gave the Yellow Jackets a 14-6 region victory over West Carroll.

Defensive play highlighted the first quarter for both teams. West Carroll’s Zac Keymon sack put the Jackets in trouble early. Greenfield’s Daniel Ricketts interception of West Carroll’s Cody Nelson halted an Eagles’ drive. Penalties set both team back throughtout the contest.

“We had a lot of penalties that we overcome. Overall it was kind of a sloppy game. I felt like both teams played sloppy," said Greenfield coach Jason Rodehaver.

The Jackets tried mounting some offense in the second quarter with Tyler Dunning runs of 5 and 4 yards. This set up fourth and 1, where the Eagles’ Jake Goad stopped the Jackets’ Chase McMullen giving it back to West Carroll. Then the Eagles’ next drive started with quarterback Cody Nelson finding Bracey Myles for 13 yards. Then West Carroll used a mixture of back with Colby Copper, Travis Myles, and Nelson with runs of 4, 13, and 9 yards. This led to an Eagle touchdown by Myles that was called back due to an illegal formation. The drive latter stalled inside the 10 as the Jackets’ Steven Johnson sacked Nelson on fourth and goal.

“I felt like our seniors stepped up and made some plays defensively," said coach Rodehaver.

Things got worse from there for West Carroll. At the 5:06 mark of the second quarter, Eagle Sophmore Daniel Lott suffered what appeared to be a severe leg injury. He was carted off the field on a stretcher after a long delay in play to deal with the injury.

When play resumed Jacket quarterback Ty Smithson found Dalton Potts over the middle for a 50-yard reception. This set up Tyler Dunning’s six-yard run to pay dirt to put the Jackets’ on the scoreboard. The conversion failed putting the Jackets’s up 6-0 going to half.

West Carroll came out strong the second half using a 10-play 70-yard drive. The Eagles’ offensive line opened up holes throughout the drive. Colby Cooper put West Carroll in Jacket territory on the drive. Then on fourth and goal, West Carroll’s Myles scored on the pitch right for the touchdown. The Conversion failed however tying the score at 6. The momentum changed quickly however, as Greenfield’s Ricketts found a seam on the kickoff. He went 78-yards to pay dirt to give the Jackets’ a 14-6 lead after the conversion.

West Carroll had one last chance late as quarterback Nelson found Brandt Cowan for a 28-yard reception up the sideline. But an Eagle unsportsmanlike penalty seemed to set the Eagles’ back. The Jackets went on to win a gut-wrenching 14-6 victory over West Carroll.

Up next West Carroll (0-4) will travel to 2A foe Gibson County in a non-region contest next Friday night. Greenfield has a bye this week. The Jackets (3-2) next game will be a big region contest against the South Fulton Red Devils (5-0) at home. Both kickoffs are set for 7:30 p.m.