Greece Athena defeats crosstown rival to open season
Trojans went winless last season, but slip by Titans
It is early in the area high school football season.
Make that very early, but the Greece Athena Trojans own the strongest wonloss record in Section V football so far, after they went as low as a team could go in 2023 when it came to victory totals. The Trojans were the first team in Section V to earn a win this season on Thursday at Athena, a 14-13 victory over Greece Arcadia.
Travis Portis carried a short pass 60 yards for a touchdown at the very end of the third quarter. When Landon Ambeau made the follow-up conversion kick attempt, Athena led 14-7.
Arcadia rallied to score the final time it had possession of the ball.
Titans quarterback Jackson Childs, a freshman, connected with Ethan Alia for a 38-yard pass play to the Athena 38yard line. Later, a three-yard run by Xavier Smith to the Athena 10 converted a fourth down-and-two for the Titans.
Alia, after a penalty against Athena and a short run, Greece Arcadia finished a three-yard run in the end zone with 15 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. The Titans went for a 2-point conversion, but a pass by Childs landed in the hands of Athena senior linebacker Jackson Rohr.
All the Trojans had to do then was recover the Arcadia’s onside kick, and Athena junior Cole Poth did that to clinch the win for his team.
Travis Mack caught a nine-yard pass from Jacob Strebel with 2:44 remaining in the first quarter to score Athena’ s first touchdown. Hiayleab Yigezu recovered a fumble caused during a quarterback sack by teammate Givani Giffin with 3:30 remaining in the second quarter.
James Johnson has worked as a fulltime journalist covering high school sports for the Democrat and Chronicle since 1996. Follow him @jjDandC on X (Twitter). You can also contact him at JAMESJ@Gannett.com.