Kennett football team survives road test at NMCC 43-34

Photo by Dustin Ward, staff
Kennett receiver Parker McClain makes a catch at NMCC Friday night.

NEW MADRID, Mo. - The Kennett Indians varsity football squad and head coach Joel Wyatt got exactly what they expected when they squared off against the New Madrid County Central Eagles on the road Friday night.

Photo by Dustin Ward, staff
Kennett quarterback Bodey Ellis races the ball downfield in a varsity football game against New Madrid County Central Friday.

A battle that came down to the closing minutes of the fourth quarter

Photo by Dustin Ward, staff
Kennett receiver Joquan Williams races toward the sideline in a varsity football game at New Madrid County Central Friday night.

New Madrid County Central cut a 14-point second-quarter deficit as close as 35-34 with 5:03 left in regulation.

But Kennett responded with its only touchdown of the second half on its next drive and then got a defensive stop allowing it to edge New Madrid County Central 43-34.

“We weren’t shocked at all,” Kennett coach Joel Wyatt said of the nail biter. “I know everyone in the area saw that Hayti-NMCC score last week and probably thought Kennett would not have much trouble with NMCC. But we knew we would have to come ready because they have a great quarterback, solid running back and two good receivers. We expected a tough contest.”

Kennett led 35-28 at halftime after NMCC outscored the Indians 22-21 in the second quarter.

Neither team scored on its first three drives of the second half.

NMCC finally broke the scoring drought when Christen Phillips ran 11 yards for a touchdown with 5:03 left in the fourth quarter. Kennett maintained a 35-34 lead when it prevented Phillips from running the ball past the goal line for a successful two-point conversion.

Kennett, which was without the services of starting quarterback Andrew Spence for the final 20-plus minutes of game, responded with its own 50-yard drive that ended with quarterback Bodey Ellis throwing a 19-yard touchdown pass to Joquan Williams with 2:56 remain. Kennett also executed a two-point conversion attempt following the touchdown when Ellis completed a pass to McClain.

“When Spence went out it cut our play calling in half because Bodey gets the junior varsity reps on Monday night and we had some stuff on the play sheet he had never ran,” Wyatt said. “We were really limited but Bodey is a gamer. He made a big play action pass to Joquan and then converted a huge two-point conversion.”

New Madrid County Central pushed the ball to the Kennett side of the field on its final drive but eventually turned the ball over on downs. Kennett ran the clock out shortly after.

Kennett jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter after Harrell ran 16 yards for a touchdown and Spence completed a 32-yard touchdown pass to Carter Maddox.

NMCC tied things up at 14-14 by the 11:07 mark of the second period after Austin Davis caught touchdowns passes from Phillips of 13 and 40 yards.

Kennett led by double digits twice more in the second quarter at 28-14 with 6:30 left in the second period and 35-22 with 3:10 left in the second quarter before NMCC cut the deficit to a touchdown by halftime.

“It was kind of a roller coaster,” Wyatt said. “We kind of felt a little bit comfortable after we got up two scores. But when you have a spread team that is going to throw the ball they are just one play away from hitting a home run and that’s what they did a couple times in the second quarter. Coach Fullhart and his staff do a great job.”

Harrell paced the Indians on the ground with 14 carries for 132 yards. Lemons added 12 carries for 62 yards.

Spence completed 11 of 17 passes for 147 yards and Ellis completed four of six passes for 50 yards.

McClain was Kennett top throwing target. He had six catches for 94 yards. Maddox also caught three passes for 40 yards.

Spence was five-for-five on point after attempts in the first half.

“He’s solid,” Wyatt said. “He’s knocked in 14 of his last 15 and provides us with deep kickoffs.”

Wyatt said Spence was injured when the brace he is wearing irritated his leg when he was tackled on a play. He is hopeful the injury is not significant.

“We are hoping it’s not anything major,” Wyatt said. “He’s already walking on it.”

Phillips completed 13 of 24 passes for 212 yards and had six carries for 62 yards.

Quazavion Jackson paced NMCC on the ground with 21 carries for 149 yards.

Davis had a team-high five receptions for 84 yards for the Eagles.

Kennett improves to 5-1 and NMCC drops to 4-2 with the loss.

Kennett currently supports a 2-0 mark in conference play entering its final conference game at Dexter next week. Caruthersville is 1-1, NMCC is 1-1 and Dexter is 0-2 in conference play after Caruthersville beat Dexter 30-12 in its Week 6 contest.

“Big rivalry,” Wyatt said of the head-to-head battle at Dexter. “It’s probably even more meaningful this year because these seniors played with Coach Pixley as sophomores and the juniors played for him as freshmen. So it probably means a little more to these kids but even without that it’s always big.”

SCORING SUMMARY

Kennett 43, NMCC 34

KHS 14 21 0 8 - 43

NMC 6 22 0 6 - 34

First Quarter

K - Marsayv’aun Harrell 16 run (Andrew Spence kick), 9:55

K - Carter Maddox 32 pass from Spence (Spence kick), 5:52

NM - Austin Davis 13 pass from Christen Phillips (two-point conversion failed), 4:12

Second Quarter

NM - Davis 40 pass from Phillips (two-point conversion good), 11:07

K - Elijah Lemons 6 run (Spence kick), 9:51

K - Harrell 21 run (Spence kick), 6:30

NM - Phillips 6 run (two-point conversion good), 3:10

K - Spence 4 run (Spence kick), 1:13

NM - Johnnie Walker 46 pass from Phillips (two-point conversion failed), 0:53

Fourth Quarter

NM - Phillips 11 run (two-point conversion failed), 5:03

K - Joquan Williams 19 pass from Bodey Ellis (two-point conversion good), 2:56

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing - Kennett: Joquan Williams 6-15, Elijah Lemons 12-62, Marsayv’aun Harrell 14-132, Andrew Spence 5-15, Justin Hunt 5-35, Bodey Ellis 2-2; NMCC: Quazavion Jackson 21-149, Jamal Ranson 1-4, Bryshawn Williams 1-6, Austin Davis 2-(-2), Christen Phillips 6-62.

Passing - Kennett: Andrew Spence 11-17-1 = 147, Bodey Ellis 4-6-0 = 50; NMCC: Christen Phillips 13-24-1 = 212.

Receiving - Kennett: Joquan Williams 4-26, Carter Maddox 3-40, Jake Stewart 1-19, Parker McClain 6-94, Justin Woods 1-19; NMCC: Mark Underwood 2-53, Austin Davis 5-84, Quazavion Jackson 1-11, Bryshawn Williams 2-29, Johnnie Walker 3-55.

TEAM STATS