Greenwood senior Jackson Freeland has had a pretty specific role to fill for the Gators’ offense this season – score touchdowns.

When his team slows in the red zone, it is often Freeland that gets called on to finish off the drive – in 25 carries heading into Friday night’s game at Warren Central, Freeland had five touchdowns in 25 runs.

Pretty good work, if you can get it.

But against the Dragons, Freeland showed he’s more than a short-yardage specialist with a four-touchdown night that included one very explosive play in Greenwood’s 49-18 victory.

Freeland did his usual red-zone damage with three rushing touchdowns inside the Dragons’ 20-yard line. But the senior mixed in a touchdown reception as well, hauling in a 55-yard strike from junior quarterback Levi Wyatt in the second quarter as part of a huge first-half performance by the Greenwood (3-2) offense.

Greenwood scored touchdowns on all seven offensive possessions in a game shortened by the running clock just before halftime.

“I felt like we moved the ball well offensively,” Gators coach William Howard said. “We were able to control the clock. The second half, with the running clock, we were hoping to get some younger kids in there but we weren’t able to because of just the flow of the game. It’s great to come over to Warren Central to get a win. It’s a special place to me – I was over here for seven years and have a lot of great memories and a lot of great friends who are still over here.”

The Gators opened the scoring on the game’s first possession, moving 72 yards in nine plays capped by Freeland’s 3-yard touchdown run. That was Freeland’s only carry of the drive, somewhat typical of the way he is used by the Gators out of the backfield.

“I told the guys, that’s kind of what we do when we get down there on the 1-yard line,” Howard said. “And I told them if they didn’t really like that, then they needed to get one more yard because it seems like we get tackled on the 1 a bunch. He’s a savvy player that’s able to get us a couple yards whenever we need it in that formation.”

Warren Central (2-3) had a ready response, as Dragons senior quarterback Zarionte Howard directed a crisp six-play, 87-yard touchdown drive to answer. Howard opened the drive with a 21-yard completion to RaMaun North, then he finished with a 37-yard touchdown run to get Central within 7-6 with 4:51 left in the first quarter.

Nathan Self’s 54-yard kickoff return set the Gators up on their next drive, and Freeland finished off the four-play possession with a 13-yard touchdown run.

Greenwood’s defense then forced a punt, and a 61-yard run by senior Romello Meade took the Gators down to the Central 5-yard line. After a penalty pushed them back, Meade got a shot at scoring and delivered with an 8-yard touchdown run that put Greenwood up 21-6 with 11:53 to go in the first half.

“I think I’ve got potential to do that,” Meade said of the big run. “It’ll take me awhile, especially with all these other things that I’ve been doing. During playoff season, I’ll definitely be doing better.”

Freeland and Wyatt hooked up on a one-play scoring drive the next time the Gators got the ball, with Wyatt finding his teammate in the middle of the field and Freeland turning for that familiar end zone to run the rest of the way on a 55-yard touchdown pass play.

“We like to run the ball a lot, we had some good pass plays too,” Freeland said. “We had a lot of guys that were having good blocks and we were really efficient tonight.”

Freeland’s fourth touchdown, a 5-yard touchdown run, pushed Greenwood’s lead to 34-6 with 6:18 left in the half.

Cayden Schwarzkopf’s 62-yard touchdown run followed by Garrett Nealon’s successful two-point conversion run boosted the Gators’ lead to 42-6 and started the KHSAA-mandated running clock with 3:42 left in the first half.

The Dragons started the second half much like the first, with another impressive 10-play drive covering 73 yards and finished off with Zarionte Howard’s 29-yard touchdown run.

The Gators burned up most of the remaining game clock on their ensuing drive, with Aron DeMarse finishing it off with a 2-yard touchdown run.

Warren Central answered right back with an 85-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Juelz Hyde, but the running clock expired before Greenwood had to run another play.

Schwarzkopf finished with 136 rushing yards on 10 carries, while Meade also eclipsed the 100-yard rushing mark with 104 on just three carries.

Zarionte Howard had a game-high 138 rushing yards for the Dragons.

The Gators are on the road this coming Friday at South Warren, while Warren Central will be at Daviess County.

GHS 14 28 0 7 – 49

WCHS 6 0 6 6 – 18

First quarter

GHS – Jackson Freeland 4 run (Graham Smothers kick), 7:43

WCHS – Zarionte Howard 37 run (run failed), 4:51

GHS – Freeland 13 run (Smothers kick), 2:47

Second quarter

GHS – Romello Meade 8 run (Smothers kick), 11:53

GHS – Freeland 55 pass from Levi Wyatt (Smothers kick), 10:22

GHS – Freeland 5 run (kick blocked), 6:18

GHS – Cayden Schwarzkopf 62 run (Garrett Nealon run), 3:42

Third quarter

WCHS – Howard 29 run (run failed), 5:13

Fourth quarter

GHS – Aron DeMarse 2 run (kick good), 6:46

WCHS – Juelz Hyde 85 kickoff return (kick failed), 3:00{&end}