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Saturday, October 17, 2009

Prep Football: Panthers' defense shuts down Devils
By JAMIE BAKER

Staff Writer

McCOMB -- If McComb coach Kris Alge hands out game balls after Friday night's 28-7 Blanchard Valley Conference win over Arlington he'd better order about 11 to cover his entire defense.

The Panthers built a 14-7 first-half lead and shut down a talented Arlington offense in the second half to stay in the playoff hunt on a chilly night at Doc Miller Field.

"I'm proud of our defense and our defensive coaches. They made some adjustments at halftime and the kids stepped it up," Alge said. "We bent a little bit but we didn't break. I'll tell you what, Arlington is a very good football team. That (Cam) Brown kid is a load."

Brown, the BVC's leading rusher, got his yards. He carried 24 times for 136 yards to increase his unofficial season total to 916 yards. But the Red Devils were just not able to string enough offense together to make a game of it.

The Red Devils (5-3, 4-3 BVC) only picked up 67 yards on the ground and 14 through air in the entire second half.

"We hung with them in the first half. Their defense played well," said Arlington coach Dick Leonard. "We couldn't get people open in the secondary and they controlled the line of scrimmage, especially in the second half. When teams dominate the line of scrimmage, they normally win."

The Red Devils were also victimized by a handful of big plays, two of which came courtesy of McComb senior Jesse Cramer in the first half.

The first was with 8:52 remaining in the first quarter when he got behind the Arlington secondary and hauled in a 62-yard scoring strike from Mason Roth.

Arlington sophomore Matt Cheney returned the ensuing kickoff 51 yards to McComb's 29 yard line. Six straight running plays produced Arlington's only score when Brown went three yards for the score.

Cramer, who caught a pair of passes for 93 yards, gathered in the kickoff after the Red Devil touchdown, found a seam and rolled down the sidelines for a 90-yard TD return. It marked the second straight week Cramer returned a kick for a score.

Cramer's touchdown gave the Panthers the lead for good at 14-7.

"Jesse's leading the league in receiving and we want to try and get the ball in his hands. We've been expecting him to step up," said Alge, whose team improved to 5-3 overall and 4-3 in the BVC.

"He's like a lot of our seniors who know their season is close to being over. And if they want to move, now they have to perform."

McComb's other big play came in the second half. Taylor Hanes, who also had a pair of interceptions on defense, turned a screen pass from quarterback Andrew Dee into a 40-yard touchdown in the third quarter.

Hanes' second pick set up Corey Fry's 10-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

Both teams' playoff hopes are still alive entering Week 9.

Heading into the game, McComb was No.12 in Division VI, Region 22 rankings and could leapfrog a few teams after Friday's win.

The Panthers still have Arcadia (2-6) and Pandora-Gilboa (5-3) remaining on their schedule.

Arlington, meanwhile, was ranked seventh in Region 22 and has games against Hardin Northern (2-6) and Vanlue (1-7) remaining.

"They were just better than us tonight. We have to get better and continue to improve," Leonard said. "We have to do a better job of coaching and we have to do a better job of playing. It's about giving full effort on every single play."



Arlington 7 0 0 0 -- 7

McComb 14 0 7 7 -- 28

First Quarter

McC -- Cramer 62 pass from Roth (Cramer kick)

ARL -- Brown 3 run (Fennell kick)

McC -- Cramer 90 kickoff return

Third Quarter

McC -- Hanes 40 pass from Dee (Cramer kick)

Fourth Quarter

McC -- Fry 10 run (Cramer kick)

Arl McC

First Downs 12 11

Rushes-yards 39-175 26-98

Passing Yards 63 149

Comp-Att-Int 5-16-2 9-14-1

Punts-Avg. 5-33.2 5-30.4

Fumbles-Lost 1-0 0-0

Penalties-Yards 12-82 4-55

individual statistics

RUSHIng -- Arlington, Brown 24-136, Glick 8-38, J. Leonard 3-8, Z. Leonard 3-(minus-12). McComb, Frey 10-55, DeLaCerda 5-11, Lilly 5-20, Roth 2-6, Dee 3-6, Hanes 1-0.

PASSing -- Arlington, Z. Leonard 5-16-2, 63 yards. McComb, Dee 8-12-0, 87; Roth 1-2-1, 62.

receiving -- Arlington, Inniger, 1-33, Morehart 1-7, Recker 2-18, J. Leonard 1-6. McComb, Cramer 2-93, Morse 3-17, Roth 2-(minus-6), Hanes 2-45.

Baker: 419-427-8409,

Send an e-mail to Jamie Baker


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