Successful first Homecoming sees Belgreen shut out Tharptown and remain undefeated

Three games into the 2025 campaign, the Belgreen High School football team remains the sole unbeaten team in Franklin County. The Bulldogs improved to 3-0 Friday night after a 34-0 Homecoming win over county rival Tharptown (0-3).

“I think we played well offensively and were able to move the ball up and down the field,” Belgreen head coach Jonathan Raper said. “Defensively, I thought we played pretty well.

“It was a great night for the (players) and for the community. The atmosphere was awesome. We had a great crowd,” he added. “We appreciate the crowd we had, and I’ve thought since game one the kids have done a great job of staying focused and really understanding what it takes to win football games.”

Five different players scored touchdowns for the Bulldogs in the win. Sophomore quarterback Rush Berryman, after Belgreen lost a fumble on its opening possession, the only major hiccup for the BHS offense for the night, scored the first points of the evening on the Bulldogs’ second drive.

Following that score by Berryman were touchdowns from junior Ethan Dawson, sophomores Colton Ashton and Brayden Messer, and senior Easton Mitchell.

“I thought our offensive line controlled the game very well,” Raper told the Franklin Free Press.

“I’m not positive but I think we scored on just about every possession we had other than the turnover,” he added. “So offensively we played pretty good all night except for a couple miscues.”

On defense, the Bulldogs pitched the first shutout in the program’s short history. Although Tharptown controlled the football for most of the second half, and Raper thought his defense could’ve done a better job of getting off the field the final two quarters, the BHS head coach praised the unit for keeping the Wildcats off the scoreboard.

“(Tharptown) ran right at us. They controlled the clock and they basically kept the ball the whole third and fourth quarter. But they would drive down the field on us and then we’d hold them,” Raper said. “It was three or four yards at a whack, and they did a good job of moving the chains and eating clock.

“We probably gave up a lot of yards, and we didn’t get off the field as quick as I probably would’ve liked, but we would make adjustments and when we did that we were able to stop them,” he added. “Anytime you can keep the other team from scoring that’s always good.”

In addition to how his team played Friday night, Raper applauded the way his student-athletes handled practice during the week. The players, he said, remained focused on preparation for the game while still being able to enjoy the Homecoming festivities. It made for a special and memorable week.

“The kids had a very good week of practice. They stayed locked in and were getting after it; that carried over to the game,” Raper said.

“It’s a big rivalry so going in we knew that was going to add to it, not just counting the Homecoming stuff,” he added. “Overall I thought our kids handled themselves so well during the week and during the game and handled everything with Homecoming well.

“It was a big deal with first Homecoming and first Homecoming dance on a Friday night. The kids had a lot of fun and enjoyed it. The kids were excited about all that and it turned out to be a very successful night. It’s one of those great things about Homecoming and football on a Friday night. It was a very fun night—a fun week.”

The Bulldogs have a bye week before their next contest at Tanner on Friday, September 19. Raper said Belgreen will use the off week to self-correct before eyeing the Rattlers.

“We’re going to work on ourselves. That’s the biggest thing we’re going to do this week,” Raper said. “At the end of the week we may start to take more of a look at Tanner, but I think we’ve got some things that we need to work on and some things that we need to clean up so that we can continue to improve and get better.”

Belgreen football head coach Jonathan Raper addresses the crowd during BHS Homecoming bonfire on Thursday, September 4.

(Courtesy: Belgreen Football on Facebook)