Indians roll over Charleston, 42-15

The Kennett Indians' offense scored five touchdowns against the Charleston Bluejays as Kennett left Charleston Friday night with a 42-15 win in both teams' season opener.

This was a win that Kennett head coach Kenneth Reidinger said his team really wanted and was glad to start out the season out this way. "We needed this win as a football team," Reidinger said. "Not only did this football team need to win this first game, the entire football program benefits from this win. I think we made a big step in accomplishing what we believe in with tonight's win.

Reidinger feels that not only getting the win, but winning the game the way they did will help build this team's confidence for the rest of the season. "Anytime you get a win, especially in the fashion that we did, we're happy," Reidinger said. "We're excited for our kids and proud of the way they played.

The Indians opened up the scoring halfway through the first quarter when Charleston QB Jamaul Gray was sacked in the endzone for a safety, giving the Indians a 2-0 lead with 7:29 left in the first.

The Kennett offense scored it's first touchdown of the season just a few minutes later when RB Logan Dollins ran the ball into the endzone from the one-yard line, giving the Indians a 9-0 lead over the Bluejays heading into the second quarter.

The Bluejays opened up the second quarter with a one yard touchdown run by Gray, and then they were successful on a two-point conversion to cut the Indians' lead to 1 at 9-8.

The Indians responded to the score with one of their own, this time it was Kennett QB Adam Grantham and receiver Andy Lack's turn to score their first points of the season. Grantham's 11-yard TD pass to Lack extended the Indians' lead to 16-8 with 9:18 left in the half.

With about 1:30 left in the half, it seemed that the Indians had scored another touchdown. A Kennett punt on fourth down had seemed to be touched and bobbled by the Charleston return man, then recovered by Dollins in the endzone for a touchdown, but after the officials met on the field to discuss the play they overturned their call, saying that the Charleston player never touched the ball.

Neither team would score after again in the first half, leaving the Indians in the lead at halftime, 16-8.

It was in the third when the Indians pretty much put the game away.

With 5:44 left in the quarter, Dollins scored his second touchdown of the game on a long run, helping the Indians improve their lead to 23-8.

Late in the third, Kennett scored 14 points in 11 seconds to take the lead to 36-8 before the end of the quarter. It was an 11-yard touchdown run by Grantham and a Charleston fumble recovery for a touchdown by Kennett's Rolando Tijerina that gave the Indians a 28-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Although Charleston would put up their second touchdown of the game in the fourth, it didn't help their cause because with 5:20 left in the ball game, Grantham and Lack hooked up for another touchdown to take the Indians' lead to 42-15, which would end up being the final score.

Along with scoring two touchdowns, Dollins became the first running back for Kennett, since 2008, to rush for over 100 yards in a single game. Dollins had 24 carries for 110 yards to compliment his performance on the evening.

Grantham was 6 for 8 for 162 yards passing, throwing two touchdown and scoring another on the ground. His two primary receivers, Lack and Cameron Wallace, both had three catches on the evening and had 90 and 72 yards receiving, respectfully.

Reidinger said that they key to the offense's success against Charleston was the outstanding play of the offensive line. "Our offensive line really dominated up front and did an outstanding job for us tonight," Reidinger said. "The work that these guys put in all off-season long really showed tonight. They just did a phenomenal job of protected Adam and the rest of the offense."

Kennett's Emmett Dunn led the team in tackles with 5 against the Bluejays. Last year's All-Region DL Travon Weeden recorded two tackles on the night.

It was the Indians' defense that sacked Gray once and forced Charleston ball carries to fumble the ball three times and recovered five total fumbles on the night.

"Our defense really got after it tonight and did well to hold Charleston to that many points," Reidinger said about the performance of his defense. "Our first-team defense limited them to just one touchdown and you can't ask for a better performance in a season opener like the gave. Even our second did a good job of making tackles and really getting after it. It's a positive thing to see everyone on this team contributing to the win."

The Indians' special teams was solid in the ball game and Reidinger points out the fact that their new special teams coordinator, Lance Penn, has really worked hard to make sure that special teams is consistent throughout the season. "Every practice, Coach Penn has been out there working with our special teams' guys, making sure that they knew what to do, and all his hard work, along with the hard work of all our coaches was on display tonight with this win."

With the win, the Indians start out the season with a 1-0 record and now will turn their attention to their home-opener against the Caruthersville Tigers this coming Friday. Caruthersville will come into the game having won their season opener by beating Portageville 36-0 at Portageville.

Reidinger says that his team is just going to have to keep working this coming week and realize that, although they're excited about beating Charleston, they know that the season is just getting started and there are still plenty of goals to be met before this season can be deemed as successful.

"We now have to turn our attention to Caruthersville and get back to work on the practice field this week," Reidinger said. "We're not where we want to be yet. Even though we won we still have to keep working and keep getting better as a team. We're still a long way from where we want to be as a team and we still have work to do to continue to be successful this year."

Kennett 9 7 20 6 -- 42

CHS 0 8 0 7 -- 15

First Quarter

Kennett - Safety off of QB Gray, 7:29

Kennett - Dollins 1 yard TD run, 3:22

Second Quarter

Charleston - Gray 1 yard TD run

Kennett - Lack 15 yard pass from Grantham, 3:22

Third Quarter

Kennett - Dollins TD run, 5:44

Kennett - Grantham 11 yard TD run, :14

Kennett - Tijerina recovers fumble in endzone, :03

Fourth Quarter

Charleston - TD run

Kennett - Lack 10 yard pass from Grantham, 5:20

Kennett Stats

Passing: Grantham - 6/8, 162 yards, 3 TD's (1 rushing)

Rushing: Dollins 24/110, Dunn 8/49, Grantham 4/17, Shavers 5/13

Receiving: Lack 3/90 and 2 TDs, Wallace 3/72