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Caruthersville football team overcomes slow start to blank NMCC
NEW MADRID, Mo – For the first 19 minutes New Madrid County Central held their own against visiting Caruthersville in their regular season finale Friday.
With three scores in the final five minutes of the first half, however, the Tigers broke the game open en route to a 59-0 final.
“I’m just proud of the overall effort,” Caruthersville head coach Jimmy Jackson said. “New Madrid came out and loaded the box and tried to take away the running game but we found a way to get it done.
“We started off slow but picked it up and had some success. We took off from there.”
Both teams were without their starting quarterbacks Friday with the Eagles’ Christen Phillips suffering a leg injury last week against Sikeston and Tigers’ signal caller Charles Golliday dealing with a concussion.
Of the two team’s replacements, Caruthersville’s Bryce Strawn had the best results, throwing for three touchdowns and rushing for another. Strawn was 9 of 12 passing for 128 yards while rushing six times for 13 yards.
“We had some guys in some different positions,” Jackson said. “A really big position was our quarterback was out with a concussion. We put Bryce there, so we didn’t have him as a receiver. We had a young guy over there instead.” Neither team was able to get much going early offensively with NMCC’s defense holding the Tigers to a lone touchdown deep in to the second quarter.
Things steamrolled out of NMCC’s control in the last five minutes of the half when Caruthersville scored three times to turn a six-point lead into a 26-0 advantage at the half.
Strawn found Terrius Rodgers for a 23-yard touchdown strike with 5:03 left in the second quarter, making it 12-0.
A five-yard touchdown run from Strawn 1:11 left in the half had the Tigers looking like they’d be up 19-0 at the break only for an Eagle fumble with 20 seconds remaining to give them another shot.
Strawn found Dundi Hamilton for a 26-yard scoring strike on the next play to extend their team’s lead to 26-0 heading into the locker room.
Hamilton’s catch capped a 20-0 run by Caruthersville in just under five minutes in what had been a one-score game until that point.
“Focus is key,” NMCC head coach Tyler Fullhart said. “This is a game of focus and discipline. When lose focus for just a little bit on a good team they capitalize. We’re banged up, but there’s no excuses.
“Coach Jackson has a good team and they do a good job coaching the kids so they’re ready to play. We didn’t execute.”
The Eagles stopped the Tigers’ rushing attack in the first half, holding them to 22 yards on 13 attempts. Caruthersville made it up through the air with 9 of 11 passing for 128 yards and three scores.
At halftime Caruthersville had outgained NMCC 150-10 in totals yards.
The Tigers continued to roll after the break, taking the second half kickoff back 54 yards for a score.
Runs from Nicholas Moore and Tanner Cobb added another two scores before Moore closed out the third quarter scoring by scooping up an Eagle fumble for his second touchdown of the night, making it 53-0.
One more score by Moore in the fourth made up the 59-0 final.
“I’m proud of that goose egg, not allowing those guys to score,” Jackson said. “It’s just guys running to the ball and making plays. New Madrid is without their quarterback too. He got dinged up this past week so they had another guy at quarterback.
“I know they weren’t at full force like they’d like to be. Overall I’m just proud of our guys. They stepped up, even some guys making some plays.”
Austin Davis took over as quarterback last week when Phillips got hurt and continued the role against Caruthersville. He went 2 of 7 for 26 yards.
The biggest blow to NMCC in having to put Davis at quarterback is losing their No. 1 receiving option.
Brian Sylvester was the Eagles’ leader on offense, rushing for 66 yards on 12 attempts.
Caruthersville outgained NMCC 246-62 in total yards for the game.
“Losing Christian was really painful, but at the same time Austin is a player,” Fullhart said. “He’s very selfless and went from being our top receiver to having to take over quarterback.
“I told him on the sideline that’s a selfless thing to do. My hat’s off to Austin for taking on that role.”
| Caruthersville | 6 | 20 | 27 | 6 | - | 59 |
| NMCC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 0 |
First Quarter
C – Chris Smith 27 pass from Bryce Strawm (Terrius Rodgers kick missed), 9:02
Second Quarter
C – Terrius Rodgers 23 pass from Bryce Strawn (Chris Smith run failed), 5:03
C – Bryce Strawn run (Terrius Rodgers kick), 1:11
C – Dundi Hamilton26 pass from Bryce Strawn (Terrius Rodgers kick), 0:15
Third Quarter
C – Marquis Edwards 54 kickoff return (Terrius Rodgers kick), 11:53
C – Nicholas Moore 12 run (Terrius Rodgers kick missed), 9:32
C – Tanner Cobb 3 run (Terrius Rodgers kick), 2:31
C – Nicholas Moore 7 fumble return (Terrius Rodgers kick), 1:21
Fourth Quarter
C – Nicholas Moore 13 run (Terrius Rodgers kick missed), 11:10
TEAM STATISTICS
| C | N | |
| Total yards | 246 | 62 |
| Rushes-yards | 29-118 | 36-36 |
| Passing yards | 128 | 26 |
| Comp.-Att.-Int. | 9-12-1 | 2-7-1 |
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING – Caruthersville, Chris Smith 1-(-1), Bruce Strawn 6-13, Nicholas Moore 11-61, Demarco Slaughter 1-(-3), Tanner Cobb 2-26, Charles Tillman5-(-2), Devin Russell 2-18, Dundi Hamilton 1-6. NMCC, Brian Sylvester 12-66, Austin Davis 12-(-33), Tra Ranson 3-(-6), Quazavion Jackson 7-7, Kannon Nowell 1-(-5), Jacob Keene 1-7.
PASSING – Caruthersville, Bryce Strawn 9-12-1 128. NMCC, Austin Davis 2-7-1 26.
RECEIVING – Caruthersville, Chris Smith 4-59, Terrius Rodgers 3-37, Dundi Hamilton 2-32. NMCC, Brian Sylvester 1-(-1), Tra Ranson 1-27.