Rams travel west, face Carroll in season opener

By TYLER ANDERSON tanderson@iowainformation.com

For the past several weeks, the Greene County football team has prepared for this moment. Hope springs eternal as a fall campaign begins anew in the land of the Rams.

This time around, Greene County won’t need to travel far to find a new challenge. That challenge? An ancient foe.

At 7 p.m. on Friday, the Rams will face off against Carroll for both team’s regular season openers at Carroll Athletic Field. 

It’s been a while since Greene County and the Tigers have met on the gridiron, not having seen one another since 2015.

The Rams return plenty of firepower after going 8-2 and pair of second round appearances the past two seasons, with the most notable being senior quarterback Gabe Ebersole, senior Jack Hansen and Class 2A all-state second team selection in Noah Cornell.

Since taking over the starting role last year, Ebersole is the dynamo who makes the Rams offense go, accumulating 1,253 yards and 15 TDs through the air and another 321 yards and five trips to the endzone on the ground.

Hansen led the Greene County receiving corps last season with 24 catches for 463 yards and three touchdowns. 

The red and black is further bolstered by senior Cody Allen (65 tackles, 6 TFL, 2 fumble recoveries and 1 sack) and junior Camden Strennen (338 rushing yards, 50.5 tackles, 4.5 TFL and 1.5 sacks). Senior kicker Nathan Behne also returns, after being named to Class 2A’s second team all-state in 2022.

Other potential playmakers include junior wideout Kendall Freeman, who impressed at last week’s scrimmage against Ogden, and junior Nick Stream, who snagged an INT for the Rams within the varsity scrimmage.

After finishing with 5-4 records in 2021 and 2022, the Tigers will return plenty of firepower in 2023.

Under the guidance of Craig Rowedder, Carroll loves to run the rock, having gained more than 1,900 yards last season. Notable returners for the Tigers will be junior Reece Ziegmann and senior Cooper Ludwig.

Along with his 846 yards and eight touchdowns on 122 carries, Zeigmann also captured 14 passes for 176 yards and two more TDs. Zeigmann is also a defensive standout, recovering one fumble for a touchdown and snagging an interception in 2022.

Ludwig has churned out 552 yards and seven touchdowns, while leading the Tigers on defense with 48 tackles, nine of those being for a loss and two sacks.

Other notables include junior Taidyn Peterson (116 yards rushing, 48.5 tackles, 9 TFL) and senior Payton Wardell (43 tackles, 9 TFLs and 2 sacks).

The Rams will also seek to buck a historical trend against the Tigers, having lost all of their matchups with Carroll since 2008.

The all-time series began with a

Thanksgiving meeting a century ago, before moving up to become an Armistice Day showdown. 

In 1932, Jefferson and Carroll joined the Mid

west Conference, becoming a heated rivalry be

fore the league disbanded in 1990. The Rams joined the Raccoon River Conference while the Tigers went independent.

While district play was adopted in 1992, Jefferson-Scranton and Carroll were conference mates from 1994 to 2007, when the Rams left the RRC for the Heart of Iowa Activities Conference.