Football 9/16/2022 11:03:00 AM Assistant Sports Info

GAMEDAY CENTRAL: North Greenville Heads to Mississippi Searching for Win #1

Tigerville – Gulf South play begins this weekend for North Greenville Football (0 – 2, 0 – 0) with a trip to Clinton, Mississippi lined up for Saturday's kickoff against Mississippi College.

North Greenville is 0 – 2 on the season, but the record is a bit deceiving. The Crusaders opened the season with a Division I opponent in week one and narrowly missed upsetting the #13 team in Division – II last week, falling to Newberry by a touchdown.

This week, North Greenville takes on a 1 – 1 Mississippi College team which has lost to #15 Albany State in week one. The Choctaws followed up in week two with a three-score win over Keiser, the #7 ranked team in NAIA.

Saturday's meeting between the Crusaders and Choctaws will only be the third time the two teams have met on the gridiron.
North Greenville trails in the series 0 – 2 with the Choctaws claiming a victory over NGU in Clinton and also a road victory last season in Tigerville.
The first meeting between the two teams was scheduled for 2018 but the threat of a tropical storm forced a cancellation.

Dylan Ramirez set a school record as a true freshman last week, throwing for 317 – yards and three scores in his collegiate debut. He'll look to duplicate that performance this weekend against an MC defense that is allowing 190+ yards per game through the air.
NGU's skill players are divers and playmakers are starting to emerge. Last week three different players caught a touchdown pass. Doug Washington caught an 89 – yard score while Cameron Walker found the endzone from 55 – yards out.
Tyree Funnye also caught a ball for a score, toe – tapping in the back of the endzone on a dime from Ramirez.
North Greenville's offense has been somewhat one-dimensional in the first two games, relying mostly on the pass. The Crusaders will look to get the ground-game going this week against Mississippi College.
Defensively, North Greenville faces an offense committed to running the football. The Choctaws have averaged 291.5 – yards in their first two games this season.
The Choctaws have only thrown for 80 – yards in two games, but the triple – option style offense can strike over the top when the time calls for it, hoping that NGU's defensive backs have their eyes in the backfield.
New faces are also starting to emerge on defense including Tremaine Epps who set a career high last week with two tackles for a loss. Epps also scored his first career sack.
Dantevian Byrd has looked solid for NGU in his first two games back from injury, also accounting for two stops in the backfield and a sack.

Dylan Ramirez will start his first game this Saturday (he entered on NGU's second drive against Newberry). The True Freshman is an athletic passer that has the ability to stretch the field but also can keep a defense honest, using his legs to scramble.
Doug Washington began to emerge last season and continues to improve. He leads NGU's receivers in receptions and yards in 2022 and has game breaking speed.
Cameron Walker and Tyree Funnye add more speed and playmaking to North Greenville's offense and gives Ramirez more options in the passing game. Both players have catches of 40+ yards and are averaging 13 and 15 yards per catch.
Ethan Alexander leads the North Greenville defense in tackles this season with 16 stops. He also has 1.5 tackles for a loss from the safety position.
Fred Billy has been a solid install for North Greenville's defense this season and has 10-tackles this season while De'Iveon Donald continues to prove he is one of the best defenders in the Southeast with 15-tackles including a sack.