By Kris Freeman
White House Football

So many factors worked against the White House Blue Devils in Greenbrier on Friday night, but the biggest one was knocked down straight and true in the closing seconds for a thrilling, come-from-behind victory over the Greenbrier Bobcats.

Senior kicker Zack Trobaugh faced a career-long challenge when lining up from 44 yards with three seconds remaining, and powered the kick through the goal posts for a 17-14 win and a share of the Region 4-3A championship for his team. For the first seven games of the season, the Blue Devils failed to make a field goal - but in the final three weeks, Trobaugh went 4-for-4 including the last three over 40 yards.

With Pearl-Cohn's 20-3 victory over Station Camp, those two teams with White House all beat one another and finished at 5-1 in the region for a three-way tie. But White House will play as the second seed in the TSSAA's first round, hosting Polk County next Friday night at 7 p.m. It will be the first home game for White House in the postseason since the 2004 team swept three games at Dewey H. Whitson Stadium.

Greenbrier makes the playoffs as the No. 4 seed, with DeKalb County's surprising win over Macon County knocking out the Tigers and Sycamore from competition. Greenbrier will travel to McMinn Central and the winner will face either Polk or White House in round two.

It was a game of miscues and missed opportunities at Greenbrier, as White House threw four interceptions and fell behind 14-0 on an interception returned for a touchdown and a punt return for a score to end back-to-back drives in the first quarter. But slowly rallying to tie the game, White House's stingy defense stopped the Bobcats twice in Blue Devil territory in the fourth quarter and set up the final touchdown drive.

White House took over on a Greenbrier punt at its own 32-yard-line with 1:05 remaining and no timeouts. Trox Greenwade completed back-to-back passes to Chad Neal for 7 and 14 yards, then stopped the clock with a spike at the Greenbrier 47. Then, Greenwade connected with Matt Parker for 15 and 5 yards and set up Trobaugh for the game winner.

On the drive, Greenwade completed four straight passes except for the two times the clock was stopped. It was a tough night for the sophomore quarterback who was 11-of-22 for 107 yards with three interceptions, the first returned by Zack Ziegler in the opening period for a 7-0 Greenbrier lead.

On the ensuing drive, White House punted and Zach Cline faked a reverse to a teammate and went 55 yards down the home sideline for a 14-0 lead early in the first quarter.

Back came the Blue Devils after a series of punts, when DeMarrius Payne intercepted Justin Grogan at the Greenbrier 47 and retuned it inside the red zone at the 19. White House gambled on fourth down at the 13 and Bryan Dixon scored the first touchdown with one second remaining. Trobaugh's kick made it 14-7.

Ziegler would have three interceptions on the night including a receiver pass from Parker, but the Bobcats were held off the scoreboard by the Blue Devils continually.

White House began the game-tying drive in the third quarter with eight minutes left and marched 13 plays and 80 yards to paydirt. The key play was a 43-yard strike to Parker on 3rd-and-16 from the Blue Devil 25, and later Greenwade found Neal crossing the endzone for an eight-yard touchdown. Trobaugh tied the game just near the end of the third.

Greenbrier moved into White House territory in the fourth, but failed on fourth down when a pass ruled incomplete ended a drive inside the White House 10. But Cline intercepted Greenwade on the first White House play, and the defense was forced to hold again - and did, with one of four sacks by the Blue Devils in the game.

White House allowed a season-low 148 yards of total offense, with the Bobcats rushing 32 times for 103 yards. WHHS just crossed the 200-yard mark by four yards, with a vaunted rushing attack held to 97 yards on the ground.

Parker led the defense with 11 tackles, followed by Michael Barrett and Adam Wiss with 10 each at linebacker. Neal had nine stops, and defensive end Kody Littles for the second time recorded a multi-sack game this season with two stops of the quarterback and six total tackles.

White House last played Polk County in 2005, when Mr. Football winner Ricky Ladd and the Blue Devils won 10-3 on the road in the opening round. If Greenbrier upsets McMinn Central and White House wins, the two will play again in week two of the playoffs in White House.

Box Score (Final)

White House vs Greenbrier (11-02-2007 at Greenbrier, TN)