The last time Greenfield and Stockton met was 14 years ago on a damp, cool night similar to one the Wildcats played in last Friday night, October 19th. That game 14 years ago ended with a 7-6 loss, but this night turned out differently as Greenfield ran past Stockton 48-12.
The two hold a rivalry that had fell into the shadows, but it is one that many still talk about as it is one that dates back to the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. It is a rivalry that not many students even know about, because many were still in diapers when these two met last on the football field in 2004.
Coming off a disappointing loss to other rival Lockwood the previous Friday, Greenfield was playing for a potential 2 seed in district play. Greenfield started the scoring off with a touchdown run by Daunte Stafford to make the score 6-0. Stockton responded with a score of their own to tie the game at 6-6. Stockton recovered a fumble on the next series and passed the ball down to Greenfield's 1 yard line. Greenfield made a stand to keep Stockton from scoring before getting the ball back.
The two teams fought back and forth for the rest of the half with the game being tied 12-12 going into intermission. Turnovers and sloppy play on both sides of the ball hurt the Wildcats as they had two turnovers in the half and a slew of penalties. "It was really a story of two halves of football," stated Head Coach Justin Breedlove. "We made the adjustments and took care of business in the second half."
Greenfield opened the second half with a 78 yard run by Stafford, his third score of the night, on the first play from scrimmage. The Wildcats did an onside kick and recovered to lead to another score to jump the lead up to 26-12. Those two touchdowns were all the Wildcats needed as they held Stockton to zero second half points and forced two turnovers, led by junior Levi Matthews and his team-leading 21 tackles. The Wildcats added three more scores to end the game with a final of 48-12.
Greenfield secured the two seed in their district and will play host to Appleton City on Friday, October 26th for a quarterfinal match-up in their district.