by Rusty Ellis
The York Institute Dragons are moving on in the TSSAA Playoffs, as they shut out South Greene 27-0 in Jamestown on Friday night.
Bryson Bilbrey got the scoring started early, as he scored from six yards out to give the Dragons an early 7-0 lead.
8:29 Q1
The Dragons are on the board first, as Bryson Bilbrey takes this one in from six yards out for the touchdown.
York 7
South Greene 0 pic.twitter.com/8kpKaXdOuv— Rusty Ellis (@RustyEllis_) November 12, 2022
The two teams traded empty possessions until the Dragons broke through again late in the second quarter, as Myles Leffew scored on a quarterback sneak to double the lead right before half at 14-0.
York took full control of the game in the third quarter, as their opening drive took almost eight minutes off the clock and ended in another touchdown, this one by Logan Pannell. The extra point was no good, but the Dragons pushed the lead to 20-0.
The Dragons put the exclamation point on the win with a 43-yard fumble-return touchdown to run the score to its final total at 27-0.
The 2021-22 Dragons have now become the third team in program history to make it to the quarterfinals, and head coach Derwin Wright wants them to become the second team to make it to the semifinals.
“That was an outstanding job defensively,” Wright said. “We made some mistakes offensively, but we still made plenty of great plays…that was just a great effort by our kids and our coaching staff.”
Defensively, the Dragons took control of the game early and never relented on any pressure for the entirety of the game. For Wright, it all started up front for his unit.
“I really felt like we just did a good job of jamming them up front,” Wright said. “We jammed them up front and they tried to counter, but we were able to adjust. It was a good chess game.”
Up next will be the Monterey Wildcats, who defeated Hampton 40-16 on Friday night. Even with his team’s 34-20 win over the Wildcats earlier in the season, Wright knows he’ll have his hands full next week.
“It’s going to be hard to beat them again because they’re a tough team,” Wright said. “It’s two really good teams in the Upper Cumberland and it’s sad that one of us has to put the other out. I’ve got a lot of respect for them, so we’ll have to be ready to play.”
