Greenville football team held scoreless against Trotwood-Madison

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GREENVILLE – The Greenville Green Wave were unable to score any points in a lopsided loss to the Trotwood-Madison Rams on Friday night.

Intensity blanketed the air moments before kickoff as both teams poised to advance to 4-1.

Greenville received the opening kickoff after Trotwood-Madison won the coin toss and elected to defer until the second half. The Green Wave started out shaky on offense with an incomplete pass, a backward pass ruled a fumble out of bounds and another incomplete pass.

Trotwood-Madison opened from its own 35-yard line with three straight passes, but only one completion, and a punt to follow.

Each team exchanged three-and-outs after that. Near the end of the first quarter, Darius Wortham of Trotwood-Madison blocked a Greenville punt, which was recovered in the end zone for a touchdown. The two-point conversion was good, and just like that Greenville was down eight points due to a special teams error after playing sound football all around.

“We’ve gotta do things better – small things,” Greenville coach Aaron Shaffer said. “Take care of the football, know assignments, things like that.”

With 2:34 left in the first quarter, Greenville was able to pick up a first down, but its drive quickly ended with an interception. Trotwood-Madison was quick to ground the ball down the field, finishing with a touchdown run by Williams McDaniel, extending the lead to 14-0.

“When you’re playing a team as athletic and physical as Trotwood, you can’t give them any more opportunities than they already get,” Coach Shaffer said. “Unfortunately we did that – we’ve gotta square up the little things. We’ve gotta give ourselves a chance, and I don’t think we did that very well tonight.

After another punt, Trotwood-Madison scored again on a 32-yard pass play from quarterback Markell Stephens-Peppers to Dallas Daniels. The Ram receivers were just too quick on their release for the Green Wave defensive backs to keep up with them.

The Trotwood-Madison defense scored just before halftime after a bad snap from the Green Wave offense. The Rams also opened the third quarter with an 80-yard touchdown run by McDaniel.

There were big plays that immediately halted on the following play by sloppy football, removing Greenville from the chance to score: After a deep pass from quarterback Kyle Phillips to Elijah Moore for 47 yards, the Green Wave had a personal foul call on the next play the killed their drive. Tailback Logan Eldridge – who runs violently on offense and finishes all his tackles on defense – broke a 62-yard run to get his team to the 2-yard line, only for the Green Wave to fumble the ball out of the end zone for a touchback. Add the blocked punt for a touchdown, and this game had the potential to be a lot closer than what it was.

Greenville played below its talented level and won’t make the same mistake next week against Vandalia-Butler.

The game ended 44-0; Greenville left a lot of yards and touchdowns on the field.

“We’ll go take a look and talk,” Coach Shaffer said regarding preparation for next week. “We’ll figure out where we’ve gotta get better. We’ll take a look at Vandalia, and we’ll move on. We’re 3-2, halfway through our season, and everything we want to do is still right there in front of us, but we gotta be able to handle a good opponent with a good record.”

Greenville fell to 3-2 and Trotwood-Madison advanced to 4-1.

Aaron Rich goes into motion as the Greenville football team prepares to run a play against Trotwood-Madison on Friday night in Greenville.
https://www.dailyadvocate.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/web1_Aaron-Rich-WEB-6.jpgAaron Rich goes into motion as the Greenville football team prepares to run a play against Trotwood-Madison on Friday night in Greenville. Justin Chasteen|For The Daily Advocate

By Justin Chasteen

For The Daily Advocate

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