Ricks scored on runs of 16, 58, 18 and 65 yards for the Knights, which last played Shawnee in 2019.
“There was nobody in the box,” Ricks said. “I just saw open grass, and I’m like, ‘I see it, I get it.’ And that’s what that was, the whole goal. I mean, it’s all open field.”
The Knights went 1-9 a year ago. The trying season fueled their offseason workouts, Ricks said.
“I’m just excited for our kids, excited for our community,” said Greenon coach Josh Wooten. “We worked all year long. We’ve got 31 kids on the roster that have just fought and battled, put in the work, dedicated themselves in the off-season — this is the results you get. Nobody in the world thought we could come over here and do what we did, and we dominated. I mean, it’s pretty obvious, we dominated in all phases. I’m just excited for our kids, they played well. They played their tails off. Our coaching staff did a great job preparing. It’s great to win Week 1."
Shawnee sophomore quarterback Derek Boehmer went 15-for-31 with 108 yards and two TD passes, one to senior Eric Walters and another to junior JoJo Oriebo.
The Braves took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter when Boehmer hit Walters on a 21-yard TD pass, but couldn’t get anything going the rest of the half.
“In the first half, I feel like I didn’t do a good job, got us kind of out of rhythm,” said Shawnee coach Bob DeLong, who took over this season for longtime coach Rick Meeks. “We couldn’t get in rhythm. Then we made some mistakes that got us out of rhythm. And I just felt like it never got going. I thought last week we were so smooth early in the contest (against Greeneview) that we had a rhythm and we just couldn’t get it (tonight). I thought the second half, our kids really battled and I was really pleased with our effort.”
Ricks followed with three first half TD runs to give his team a 21-7 lead at the half.
Knights junior Colton Workman returned the second half kickoff 77 yards for a touchdown to make it 27-7. The special teams play put the Braves in an even bigger hole.
“I felt like our kids were calm in the locker room at halftime; it wasn’t crazy,” DeLong said. “I thought we were gonna come back and compete, which we did, but, yeah, you can’t do that. I don’t know how many people touched him, but there was plenty.”
Ricks broke free for another 65-yard TD midway through the third quarter to make it 34-7.
Boehmer hit Oriebo on a 6-yard pass midway through the fourth quarter, but they couldn’t get any closer.
“Hats off to them, they executed,” DeLong said. “They’re a pretty mature group and we’re a pretty young group, so we’ve just got to get better.”
It was Ricks’ third career game with more than 180 yards. He rushed for a career-high 255 against Catholic Central last season.
While he was pleased to bring home a victory against one of their rivals, he doesn’t want it to define their season. They have big goals, he said.
“The job is not finished,” Ricks said. “It’s only Week 1. We’ve still got nine more and playoffs, too. That’s our goal.”
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