Eagles use big plays to take down Tribe

Staff photo by Mike Buhler Kennett's Kameron Jackson (30) is tripped up by New Madrid County Central's Lamonte Nelson during Friday's high school football game at Metz Cherry Stadium. [Click to enlarge]

While Kennett suffered a 45-18 to the Eagles at Metz Cherry Stadium, Dexter kept the Tribe's playoff hopes alive by winning at home against Perryville 41-0 -- setting up a showdown between the Indians and Dexter Thursday night here in Kennett.

"That's a testament to our kids," Kennett coach Kenneth "Red" Riedinger said. "They come to work every week. We preach to them We're still practicing as hard as we did Day One. We have a lot less kids, but we're excited about the opportunity to play for a playoff spot. That's what we've talked about all year. It's been 23 years since we've done it. It'll be a big week for us."

Staff photo by Mike Buhler Kennett's Travon "Loco" Weeden (center) gets a hand on NMCC's G'Darius Stevenson during Friday's high school football game at Metz Cherry Stadium. [Click to enlarge]

That said, Friday night belonged to the Eagles, who broke nine plays of over 10 yards in the first half as they locked up a playoff berth and the SEMO Central title.

"Big plays are made by big-time players and they've got quite a few," Riedinger said. "We were pretty pleased with our effort, but those guys are hard to tackle -- Stevenson, Ealy, Anderson, Jones and the list goes on from there. They've got a good football team, great skill kids and we just couldn't tackle them."

NMCC (6-3, 4-0 SEMO Central) set the tempo from the first snap, as Jamareia Jones broke loose for a 63-yard scoring run to put his team up 6-0 just 20 seconds into the game.

"All year long, we've talked about playing with swagger, coming out, playing the game the right way and not being scared of anybody," Riedinger said. "We came out, we were kind of playing a little timid on our heels and just missed some tackles. That kid can go -- we knew Jones was a good player from the film."

The Eagles did not wait long to get back on the board, capitalizing on a short field to get back in the end zone when Jones caught an 11-yard touchdown pass from G'Darius Stevenson with 9:29 left in the first quarter. Rodney Anderson ran in the conversion to make it 14-0.

Four snaps later, New Madrid was back in business when Andy Wilkerson recovered a Tribe fumble at the Kennett 29-yard line. Six plays later, Stevenson scored on a 1-yard keeper to make it a 20-0 game midway through the first quarter.

"We came out and we took care of business early," NMCC coach Arlen Pixley said. "We kind of thought we let our guns down there a little bit when we got the 20-point lead and kind of relaxed a little bit. (But) we took care of things early when we had to and we stepped back up in spots in the ballgame where we needed to."

Stevenson continued his dominant play in the second quarter, breaking loose on a 52-yard scoring gallop to make it 26-0 with 10:53 left in the first half.

The Indians (3-6, 1-2) finally got on the board with 4:21 left in the half when Cameron Wallace caught a 4-yard scoring toss from Adam Grantham to cap a four-play, 46-yard drive and make it a 26-6 game.

However, Stevenson was not done yet, as he capped the half by scoring on a 40-yard run to make it 32-6 at the break.

"He's made his case for the Carr Trophy (every week)," Pixley said. "I think if anybody's buying a ticket in southeast Missouri, if they knew about him and watched him play, this place would be packed out. I think that he's the most exciting player to watch in southeast Missouri."

The Eagles pushed their lead to 45-6 in the third quarter before putting in reserves in the final period.

Kennett added a pair of scores in the game's final 90 seconds to make the final more respectable, as Grantham hit Wallace on a 26-yard scoring pass with 1:18 left in the game. After the Tribe recovered an onside kick, Grantham threw a 13-yard TD pass to Jimmy Gooden with 13 seconds left to set the final score.

"We have receivers that can outrun a lot of people," Kennett tight end Andy Lack said. "If we use that a lot, we'll be all right."

Grantham had a career night in the loss, throwing for 248 yards and three touchdowns on 13-of-27 passing. Gooden caught six passes for 121 yards, while Lack had two receptions for 70 yards and Wallace caught four balls for 60 yards.

"They do a good job of moving their front, so we had to throw it," Riedinger said." If not opposed to throwing it -- I don't believe in lining up in the spread, but we will throw it. We've got a good young quarterback that puts the ball where we needs to put it. We're proud of Adam tonight. If we've got to throw it to win, we will."

Stevenson led NMCC on the ground with 156 yards on 13 carries and also completed 5-of-8 passes for 58 yards. Anderson ran for 81 yards and a touchdown on 10 totes while Jones finished with 71 yards on the ground and returned an interception for a score in the third period.

The Tribe hosts Dexter Thursday night needing to win by eight points and for the Eagles to win at Perryville to make the playoffs for the first time since 1986.

"We've just got to go out and get it done against Dexter," Lack said. "We've got to play hard, stop their offense -- they're going to run it at us and we've just got to pick up our D and stop them."