Click here to listen to rebroadcast of the game
The 2008 Marshfield Blue Jays started the season off with an offensive explosion. The Jays took the opening kickoff and the first scoring drive of the season only took 1:55. The fourth play of the drive Keenan handed the ball off to Zach Reed. Reed flashed awesome speed and 58 yards later he finds the end zone. Jays up 6-0. Ava jumped offside on the PAT so the Jays went for 2. Zach Hildebrand pounded in the 2 point conversion, making it 8-0.
Marshfield ’s defense was equally impressive as on Ava’s first drive, James Washburn picked off a Tyler Williams pass at the 48 and returned it 36 yards all the way down to the Ava 16 yard line.
From there it took Camron Keenan and company only 4 plays to get the 16 rushing yards as Hildebrand punched in a 4 yard TD run. Ethan Jernigan kicked the PAT making the score 15-0 in the opening minutes of the game.
Marshfield ’s defense then held Ava on their next possession forcing them to punt. On that punt, Camron Keenan fielded the ball at the Jays 30 and busted the return up the near sideline 70 yards for another apparent Blue Jay score, but a late flag appeared erasing the awesome effort by the punt return team.
From the opening kickoff, the entire game was all Marshfield. The rest of the scoring went as follows:
5 play 54 yard drive capped off with a 40 yard Keenan to Steele pass play made the score 22-0.
1 play 60 yard TD pass from Keenan to Chris Bigley made the score 29-0. An impressive block downfield by Brad Dinwiddie at the 10 yard line had to be mentioned, as he pounded the 6’4 defender.
5 play 46 yard drive ended with a TD when Keenan took the ball to the outside and went 20 yards for the score making the score 36-0 just before the half.
Ava had a chance to score in the first half as Marshfield went into a prevent defense. Shane Harms insured the first half shutout with a bone jarring sack as time expired.
The game had a running clock in the second half because of the mercy rule in high school football. Anytime in the second half a team is down by 35 points or more, the clock only stops for timeouts.
In the second half the first Jays offensive possession started out with a 5 yard penalty pushing the ball back to the 8 yard line. But on the next snap, Zach Reed struck again. This time it was 92 yards in the sprint and no one could chase him down. That score made it 43-0.
Ava was able to score late in the game, but the extra point was blocked making the final score 43-6.
Other notes of interest:
Washburn ended the game with 2 interceptions. Chris Bigley intercepted the ball once. Tony Halstead fell on a loose ball to recover an Ava fumble, and he also had a sack.
Unofficial stats that I composed by listening to the rebroadcast are as follows:
Keenan was 2-4 passing for 100 yards and 2 passing TD’s. He also ran for a TD and had 52 rushing yards.
Zach Reed rushed for 2 TD’s and 180 yards on the ground.
This was just a great team effort as 10 Jays carried the ball in the game and over 17 Jays got tackles.
Coach Randolph said after the game, “ I was really proud of our kids tonight. I thought they played very well at times. I think we can do some things better. There are some things we’ve got to do better, and I think we will.”
Next up #1 in the state 3A Monett comes to town on Friday.
Special thanks to Lori Lowery for taking pics…not bad for the first time! She got all the action shots!
Click on pictures below to enlarge. Hint: Just click once to enlarge, then you can browse back and forth by pointing your mouse to the upper right or left of picture.
