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NMCC stymies Kennett offense
NEW MADRID - The New Madrid County Central Eagles football team rolled to a district opening win over the visiting Kennett Indians on Friday night, 42-0.
The Eagles defense held the Indians to 30 yards in the first half and 113, 12 net yards rushing, for the entire game. NMCC sacked Kennett's quarterback Blake Parr eight times in the contest.
"Our defense stepped up tonight, especially Patrick Guest and L.T. Sutton on the interior line," said NMCC head coach Arlen Pixley. "Those two have played a lot better these last two weeks. I am not saying they were playing bad, they were just not playing up to the level we expect from them. They are starting to elevate their play and when that happens, they cause chaos in the offensive backfield and that is what happened."
Kennett could not get anything going on offense and gave the Eagles excellent field position all night.
NMCC's first two scores started inside Indian territory. The Eagles had their first possession on the Kennett 35-yard line and punched it in on a Marquese Gates' 10-yard run.
"We couldn't get going," said Kennett head coach Kirk Welch. "It started right from the opening kickoff. We've got a senior back there and we expect him to handle the ball. It bounces off his facemask, hits the dirt, and we start right off in a hole. We played on one side of the field all night long."
The Eagles' second score of the first quarter started at the 50-yard line and Gates scored again, this time on a 4-yard plunge to the end zone. Gates' touchdown was set up on a Leslie Williams' 45-yard pass to Woody Smelser that got the football to the 5-yard line. After Williams converted on the two-
point conversion, the Eagles led 14-0 after one quarter.
NMCC scored at 11:13 of the second quarter on a 2-yard run by Guest.
Once again, the Eagles had excellent field position and started on the Indian 30-yard line after an interception by Corey Rowe.
"Football's a game of field position," said Welch. "You're playing on a long end and it was brutal. When they have that type of speed and your offensive linemen know that they've got that kind of speed, it just gets them on their heels and just makes you do a bad job."
Guest was rewarded with a carry after weeks of excellent blocking on the Eagles' short-yardage package.
"That touchdown for Patrick was a result of hard work on the goal line," said Pixley. "He has done the dirty work and we wanted to reward him for a job well done. We have linemen that have played fullback coming up through the system and they are a threat to run."
Late in the second quarter Kennett tried a fake punt on their own 24-yard line which failed. NMCC scored quickly after the fake attempt on a 32-yard pass from Williams to Gates to put the Eagles up 26-0 at halftime.
"Our line is blocking much better than they were earlier in the season," said Pixley. "We have to mix it up a little because most teams are stacking the line and playing for the run. We tried to loosen up Kennett's defense with some passes and it seemed to make for better sledding on the run."
The Eagles cruised the rest of the game after a 7-yard touchdown from Williams and a safety after a bad snap on an Indian attempted punt in the third quarter. NMCC led 35-0 heading into the final quarter.
NMCC capped the scoring on a 97-yard touchdown run from DeAnton Brown with five minutes to play in the game.
"They've got a lot of speed," said Welch. "They are a very talented team and we just don't have much. We just can't compete with it."
Kennett (1-6, 0-1) travels to Dexter (7-1, 1-0) on Friday at 7 p.m.
NMCC (6-2, 1-0) hosts Perryville (2-6, 0-1) at 7 p.m. The Pirates lost their district opener to Dexter 31-0.