By WAYNE PHILLIPS

Sports Editor

After last week's win over Elizabethton netted only 39 total yards passing, there were fears among Greeneville High's faithful that without a little bit more aerial firepower to take some of the load off the rushing game, the Devils could meet their doom against Tennessee High in the TSSAA Class 4A second round.

No fear.

The Greene Devils got 250 yds. passing and 416 yds. of total offense and kept their playoff train chugging merrily along Friday night at Burley Stadium with a 30-23 victory over the Tennessee High Vikings of Bristol.

The victory advances the Greene Devils into the state quarterfinals next Friday night at Burley Stadium against unbeaten Sullivan South (12-0), who had their hands full with Morristown East on Friday night but finally prevailed by a 37-27 margin.

Senior Trevon Hall was his usual stellar self, hitting 10-of-19 passes for 199 yds., and he added 93 yds. on the ground in 21 carries.

"Trevon is just a great athlete and tonight he stepped up and made plays," GHS Coach Steve McCurry said. "Whatever you ask him to do, he does. Our receivers stepped up and caught the ball, too."

Hall had some welcome help from senior Jeremy Barner, who showed flashes of being his old self with 73 yds. rushing and three touchdowns after missing most of the year with a broken ankle.

"At times Jeremy Barner was the Barner of old," Coach Steve McCurry said after the game. "Obviously he's not 100 percent, but dang he looked good at times tonight. It's good to have him back in there."

Greeneville was concerned about the physical play of the Vikings and a running attack that was awesome in last week's win over Morristown West. The Greene Devil defense held Tennessee High to only 125 yds. on the ground, but junior quarterback Taylor Harmon connected on 19-of-35 passes for 251 yds.

"Our defense was OK against the run," McCurry noted. "They are physical and run right at you. But that quarterback is a heck of a passer. We didn't get any rush on him and we didn't play very good pass defense, but we held on and got the win."

It looked easy early. The Devils got the opening kickoff and marched 72 yds. in only five plays, with Barner hitting the big play on the second play from scrimmage with a 43 yd. sprint up the middle, showing some cuts and slashes that were reminiscent of last season. Hall hit T.J. Rollins with an 18-yd. pass, and Barner took it to the house on a 15-yd. run less than two minutes into the game.

Benjamin Ogle booted the extra point for a 7-0 GHS lead.

Hugo Sanchez and Kip Grooms teamed to sack Harmon on second down on Tennessee High's first possession, and the Vikings had to punt. The Devils took over deep in their own territory at the 13, but marched 87 yds. in 10 plays to score again.

Hall's passing was right on the money. He hit Barner for 14, Rollins for 19 and Rollins again for 12, with a 17-yd. sprint on a keeper by Hall sandwiched in. The touchdown came on a 20-yd. pass from Hall to Barner, who caught the ball around the 5-yd. line and with a determined second effort managed to break enough tackles to get across the goal line. Ogle's kick was true and it was 14-0 with 4:18 left in the opening quarter.

Tennessee High was hemmed in at their 5-yd. line for a punt after an illegal block penalty cost them yards. The Devils took over at the TH 37, but this time they couldn't move for a first down and turned it over to the Vikings at the 36.

This time it appeared that TH had something working as they quickly marched down to the GHS 22. But a couple of holding penalties, combined with some pass knockdowns by Nathan Howell and a couple of player knockdowns by Chaz Story, forced the Vikings to punt to the end zone.

Greeneville put together another good drive behind the passing arm of Hall. He hit Rollins for 18, then Rob Wright got behind a defender and moved it 41 yds. Wright caught another one for 10 and the Devils had it first and goal at the 5.

But they couldn't get into the end zone. They settled for a 24-yd. field goal by Ogle, who got a good snap from Ryan Fillers and a good hold from Zach Fillers. That score made it 17-0 with only 29 seconds left until intermission.

But the Vikings refused to just let the half end. They got a 30-yd. run from Xavier King to the GHS 42. With only two seconds left on the clock, the Vikings called time out. When play resumed, Harmon threw a perfect strike to the end zone, catching Corey Young in stride, and he caught the ball at the back of the end zone for the touchdown. Ben Perrin kicked the point and it was 17-7 at intermission.

That touchdown seemed to change the momentum of the game when the Vikings came out to receive the second half kickoff. They began a good drive with Keenan Shepard getting an 18-yd. run on first down and they quickly moved to the GHS 30. But a chop block cost the Vikings 15 yds., and B.J. Spradlin put a hit on Shepard that stopped him for a 2-yd. loss on a third down and two situation.

After a fourth down pass fell incomplete, GHS took over at the 24, and they were headed goalward.

Wes Quarles threw his only pass of the game from the quarterback spot and was a winner. He hit Tyler Stewart along the sidelines, and Stewart received a jolt near the out of bounds stripe but didn't go out. He skipped up the sidelines on a 51-yd. run, and on top of that, Tennessee High got flagged for hitting Quarles late on the pass.

That put the Devils in good shape at the TH 12, and three plays later Hall dived over the top of the line and tumbled into the end zone for the touchdown and a 24-7 lead after Ogle's kick.

The Vikings went to the air and moved 70 yds. in 10 plays to score. The big plays were a 21-yd. pass to Cody Snyder and a 20-yd. pass to King. The touchdown came on a 10-yd. pass from Harmon to Snyder. Landon Morrison barged through to block the extra point kick and Greeneville held a 24-13 lead with 2:58 left in the third.

The Greene Devils refused to let up, getting the kickoff and marching 75 yds. to score again. Hall did most of the damage with his feet on this drive, including runs of 10 and 19. He hit Wright on a 13-yd. strike, and Barner got his third score of the game on an 8-yd. blast up the middle. Ogle had a rare miss on the PAT but the Devils were in command at 30-13 with 8:45 left.

It was Tennessee High's turn and Harmon wasted little time in getting his squad back into the end zone. After a 21-yd. run by King, Harmon went to the passing attack and had his team with a first and goal at the 1 after a strike to Young put them at that spot. King scored on first down, and Perrin made the kick this time to cut the gap to 30-20 with 5:21 left in the game.

Greeneville ate the clock by picking up two first downs, but Barner lost the handle on the ball and King recovered a fumble at the TH 42.

The Vikings, needing to score twice to win, settled for a 29-yd. field goal by Perrin after getting down to the GHS 9-yd. line. That made it 30-23 with only 24 seconds left in the game.

Everybody in the stadium knew an onsides kick was coming, and it did, but Chaz Story gobbled it up and immediately hit the deck.

With no time outs left, all the Devils had to do was take a knee and they were on their way to the state quarterfinals.

Tennessee High 0 7 6 10--23

Greeneville 14 3 7 6--30

First Quarter

GHS - Jeremy Barner, 15-yd. run (Benjamin Ogle kick)

GHS - Barner, 20-yd. pass from Trevon Hall (Ogle kick)

Second Quarter

GHS - Ogle, 24-yd. field goal

TH - Corey Young, 42-yd. pass from Taylor Harmon (Ben Perrin kick)

Third Quarter

GHS - Trevon Hall, 2-yd. run (Ogle kick)

TH - Cody Snyder, 10-yd. pass from Harmon (kick failed)

Fourth Quarter

GHS - Barner, 8-yd. run (kick failed)

TH - Xavier King, 1-yd. run (Perrin kick)

TH - Perrin, 29-yd. field goal

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TH GHS

FirstDowns 19 20

Passing (att-com-int) 35-19-0 21-17-0

Yds. Passing 243 250

Yds. Rushing 125 166

Total Offense 368 416

Fumbles Lost 0 1

Penalties 10-82 6-46

Punt Avg. 3-32.0 0-0

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Individual Leaders

Rushing: TH - Kennan Shephard 10-43, Xavier King 7-73, Bradley Tallman 3-22. GHS - Trevon Hall 21-93, Jeremy Barner 10-73.

Passing: TH - Taylor Harmon 37-19-0-2-243. GHS - Trevon Hall 20-16-0-1-199; Wes Quarles 1-1-0-0-51.

Receiving: TH - Young 6-86, Snyder 3-57, King 2-32, Wilson 3-25. GHS - T.J. Rollins 6-84, Jeremy Barner 5-44, Rob Wright 4-70, Tyler Stewart 1-51, Zach Fillers 1-1.