MCC rolls up almost 600 yards in 62-12 win over Panthers
With a win out of reach midway through the third quarter last Friday, the Panther football team lined up from their own 28-yard line to punt the ball back to Murray County Central. The snap sailed over the head of punter Connor Lanoue, who was able to gather it, only to get his punt blocked.
On the very next play, the Rebels scored their eighth touchdown of the night, en route to a 6212 win in the annual “Helmet Game.”
Such was the night for a Panther football team that found itself in a 21-0 hole just a quarterand-a-half into the game against a simple but immensely effective offensive machine.
“Defensively, it ended up looking pretty bad, but I thought we battled pretty hard for a while,” TMB coach Ryan Kruse said. “They (MCC) are pretty good at what they do. There were times where we just couldn’t get to where we needed to be. They were able to see what we’re doing and block in a different way, and all of a sudden it’s open.”
MCC, which didn’t attempt a pass all night, once again relying solely on its punishing and sometimes game-breaking ground attack, opened the scoring early with a touchdown 5 minutes into the game, but the Panthers were able to counter with a nice 11-play drive on their first possession that started with a 34yard run by David Schuh. Unfortunately, the drive stalled at the Rebels’ 11 after Griffin Zick caught a pass in the end zone that was just out of bounds.
“There were some good moments; we had the drive to start the game,” Kruse said. “They scored, but we had a big play right away, we got a couple first downs, but we just missed that last throw. We were right there.”
A Gabriel Tentiger 35-yard touchdown run put MCC up 14-0 with 10:49 left in the first half, and the Rebels scored again on a Tentiger 77-yard jaunt, but the TMB offense stayed on track, and put together a nine-play drive that culminated with a 16-yard scoring pass from Jackson Kruse to Ty Yackley with 6:36 remaining in the half that made it 21-6.
But the Rebels kept their foot on the gas, and went up 28-6 on a 22-yard touchdown run by Carson Lewis and a PAT by Aubin Licht. On the first play of the ensuing drive, Aiden Sanow was picked off by Lewis, but after the Rebels moved the ball into the TMB red zone, Nolan Verlinde recovered a fumble at the 10 to keep MCC out of the end zone.
TMB’S TY YACKLEY carries the ball deep into MCC territory after one of his two catches in Friday’s loss to the Rebels. Yackley had two grabs on the night, including his first touchdown of the year in the second quarter.
TALON BRINKLEY gets ready to rush the quarterback in the first half of last week’s game against MCC.
However, the MCC defense came up big again right away on the first play from scrimmage in the third quarter when Brayden Gilb stepped in front of a Sanow pass and brought it back for a pick 6 that put MCC up 34-6.
“We had a couple drives that were really good, but we had two picks kind of right in a row near the end of the first half and then to start the second half,” Kruse said.
The Rebels continued to light up the scoreboard with another touchdown run by Tentiger and scoring runs by Jordan Sturges and Lewis.
The Panthers scored their second touchdown with 6:17 left in the game when Jackson Kruse capped off a seven-play drive with a 9-yard run.
Schuh finished with another 100-yard game, racking up 150 yards on just 17 rushes — an 8.8-yard-per-rush average.
“That was a huge start on offense with that big play,” Kruse said of Schuh’s first run. “He had a couple long runs and just battled the whole game. There were a couple when he had a hole right away and busted through it, or he breaks a tackle and gets another 15, 20 yards. He played good again.”
The TMB defense was led by Sy Sanders’ eight tackles. Sanow had six, and Talon Brinkley four.
