8 (!) TDs for Biggs’ RB Green
Senior sets section record, Wolverines finish unbeaten
BIGGS >> Biggs senior Shavon Green entered his final football game of the Wolverines’ shortened season with 18 rushing touchdowns in five games.
On Friday, Green scored eight touchdowns — a Northern Section record, according to his coach, Tyler Rutledge — as Biggs (6- 0) defeated Live Oak 67- 6 to complete an undefeated season.
Green scored six touchdowns rushing the ball, adding a pair of 65-yard punt returns for touchdowns as well.
“I just knew that this was the last one and I just had to leave it all on the field so anything I was holding back I just couldn’t anymore,” Green said. “I just had to leave it all out here one last time. The thing that really set it off was when my coach came to the sideline and informed me that I had seven and I was one away from it and I didn’t even notice it. It really hit me when I returned the punt return and I was like ‘I got it.’”
Green’s center for the past two seasons, Sean Castillo, credited his backfield for strong running throughout the season.
“(Our line) just has great chemistry together and there’s nothing better I could ask for,” Castillo said. “And our backfield is just amazing. Shavon Green and Parker Finley, they’re just amazing runners. They’re just so fast and can get through the smallest spots, it’s amazing what they can do and what our line can put out there for them.”
Green began the first quarter as if it were his final game on the gridiron at Biggs. With 8 minutes and 57 seconds remaining in the first quarter Green got the ball on the Live Oak 33 yard line, hurdled a defender and ran it in to give Biggs the early lead.
Two minutes later, with 6:21 remaining in the first, Green sacked the Lions’ quarterback. On the next play, Green rushed the ball in from 38 yards away on the Wolverines’ offense first play following the sack giving Biggs a 14- 0 lead.
Live Oak then attempted to chip away at the lead when fullback Isael Puga scored from five yards away for the Lions. The extra point kick was blocked by Biggs.
With 1:15 left in the first quarter Green got his third rushing score of the game, this time from six yards away to give Biggs a 21- 6 lead.
A minute into the second quarter Green scored once more, this time from 21 yards away for his fourth rushing touchdown of the night.
When Castillo was asked what plays were working for the offense and the line Friday night he said, “anything coaches threw at us and we could put up some blocks and they can get the ball and run.”
Three minutes later, Green continued to shine behind his blockers. Green got his first- of-two punt returns for a touchdown increasing the Biggs lead to 35- 6. Green got the ball, ran back and around the Live Oak defender before outrunning the Lion defenders for the score.
On the next play, Jacob Hartley forced a fumble on a sack and Biggs recovered on the 50. On the first play from scrimmage Green scored once more from 50 yards away increasing the lead to 42- 6.
After Live Oak punted the ball away from Green out of bounds, with 3:24 left until halftime, Cameron Jackson got his chance, juking the the Live Oak defenders and running the ball in for a 73-yard touchdown.
Just before halftime Green added his sixth rushing touchdown of the half from 15 yards out follow Hartley’s second stripsack of the game as Biggs entered halftime with a 56- 6 lead.
After teams entered the second half with a running clock due to the lead, Green stayed busy as with 8:45 left in the third quarter he added his second 65-yard punt return for a touchdown, his eighth touchdown on the night. On his way to the end zone Green gave a fist pump to his family watching on the sidelines, a moment he said he knew the record was in his hands.
Biggs’ final score of the game came on a five-yard touchdown rush by another senior, Parker Finley.
Biggs finished its season with an undefeated 6- 0 record as the senior class finished its four year run with a 32- 5 record. Rutledge, who first had the senior class while teaching eighth grade at Biggs in his first year, said he was extremely proud of this class for the challenges they’ve endured.
“It’s really easy for people to get into ‘ back in my day it was like this and things were hard,’” Rutledge said. “Kids today have so many challenges that are just unbelievable and they battle through it. This group of kids they’re special because they didn’t let any of that stuff hold them back and stepped up to the challenge. .. Pretty special bunch of kids, good kids, hard workers but leaders on campus.”