Happy Homecoming

The Green Forest Tigers celebrated Homecoming night in style on Friday, Oct. 18, defeating the Lincoln Wolves 42-28 at Tiger Stadium.

The Tigers earned their first homecoming win since 2013 on the strength of a dominating running game and an opportunistic defense.

“Our first homecoming win in 11 years,” said Green Forest coach Greg Tibbitt. “So that’s huge, just to get that one. We try to mark off goals that we have each year, so that was huge to get that one.”

Senior Ridge Gordon- Swofford set the tone for the Tigers, running for 160 yards and three touchdowns on 20 carries. Gordon- Swofford also ran for three two-point conversions.

“That’s kind of the Ridge we’ve been looking for the last few weeks,” Tibbitt said. “And our offensive line played really well. We just kept pounding on them down the stretch.”

Defensively, Green Forest forced three turnovers — one for a touchdown and another to set up a TD two plays later.

“Coach Stone made some adjustments at halftime and they really got after it,” Tibbitt said of the Green Forest defense.

Senior quarterback Mason Meador ran for two touchdowns as the Tigers picked up their first conference victory of the season.

“Just the total team effort, I thought we played really well,” Tibbitt said.

The Tigers don’t have long to celebrate the victory — not with undefeated Elkins, the top-ranked team in Class 4A, coming to Tiger Stadium this week. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Friday. The Elks are coming off a 52-0 victory over Prairie Grove.

“You turn film on of them and, golly, they’ve been good the last few years and they’re better now, so I don’t know exactly how that works but we’re going to give it our best shot,” Tibbitt said. “But they’re a really good football team.”

After Elkins, Green Forest closes the season with games at Huntsville and Berryville. Tibbitt said the Tigers still have a chance to advance to the state playoffs.

“We’ve got to find a way to win two of the last three, and we’re in if we can do that,” he said.