By SHANNON HUTCHINSON Sports Writer
CNHI
8-25-10 — The Wayne County Cardinals opened the 2010 season last Friday night, at Darrell Carter Stadium, against #9 ranked team in Class 2A Monroe County. The Cards were looking to bounce-back after a 4-7 mark in 2009, while the Falcons claimed their second straight regional title coming off an impressive 10-4 season. The contest marked the 12th straight meeting between the two schools, with Monroe County owning a 6-5 series edge, including a 28-6 decision, at Jewell Field in 2009.
Wayne County dominated the time of possession in the early going, but Monroe County made the most of the big play enroute to grabbing a 21-0 lead, before cruising to a 35-7 win. The Falcons scored on a Chad Wilson 97 yard punt return to open the scoring and followed that up with a Jackson Arnett 95 yard touchdown pass to Tanner Kendall, as both plays set school records, while also setting the tone for the night.
"Big plays killed us, no question about it. We opened the game and were able to move the football, but opted to try and back them deep in their territory. We miss four tackles and allow Wilson to go 97 yards and a little later allow a pass that easily could've been a safety go for 95 yards, Monroe County is a good football team and good teams love to take advantage of their opponents mistakes. We didn't tackle very well early and its showed," said Cards head coach Shawn Thompson.
Monroe County used 36 plays to total 287 yards of offense, despite finishing with just 5 first downs. Senior quarterback Jackson Arnett completed 3 of 8 passes for 136 yards and two scores, plus added a 4 yard touchdown run, to offset 2 turnovers.
"Last year Arnett ran wild against our defense, but I thought our rushing defense was better. We just made a lot of mistakes, but that happens when a team has a lot of young inexperienced players. At one time we had eight or nine guys on the field getting their first real varsity action, so playing a team of Monroe County's caliber mistakes will happen," said Thompson.
Wayne County, which dropped 0-1, totaled 202 yards of offense on 57 plays and finished with 12 first downs, senior running back Devin Sloan paced the attack with 43 rushing yards on 17 attempts.
"I thought Devin ran extremely hard and for his first ever varsity game played pretty well. Offensively we have to protect the football better and find a way to finish off drives. We left some points on the field, but that happens with turnovers and costly penalties," said Thompson.
Junior quarterback Shawn Dishman added 34 rushing yards on 18 attempts, plus scored on a 1 yard run and completed 6 of 18 passes for 100 yards.
Cody Rhule led all receivers with 2 catches for 43 yards, while Travis Pace used 4 total touches for 34 yards.
"We have to take care of the football and just go back to working on the basics. I thought alignment wise we were pretty solid, overall we just have to work on some fundamental things on both sides of the ball," said Thompson.
The cards opened the game with the football and used 6 plays to travel 33 yards, but the drive stalled at the Monroe County 36 yard line. Wayne County opted to punt on fourth down and 7, which setup the first score of the night, at the 6:08 mark of the opening period.
Chad Wilson caught a Devin Sloan punt at the 3 yard line and raced 97 yards for a touchdown. Scott Harrison booted the extra-point to push the lead to 7-0.
Wayne County punted away the football on their second series and found the result, a fumble recovery, they were looking for on the first attempt. Dagan Shelton recovered the Falcon fumble at the hosts 25 yard line, which gave the Cards a second scoring threat in the opening quarter.
The visitors used a personal foul penalty with 3 Shawn Dishman runs to move the ball to the 1 yard line but 2 penalties and a turnovers inside the 5 yard line stopped the threat.
"That hurt really bad. We force a turnover and moved the ball to their one, but a delay of game and holding penalty backed us up. We battled through that and still had a great chance to punch it in, but fumbled the football," said Thompson.
Monroe County made the most of its first offensive play of just two in the entire first quarter. Jackson Arnett connected with senior Tanner Kendall for a 95 yard scoring strike.
The extra point pushed the advantage to 14-0, with 1:27 left in the first period.
"We had Arnett in the end zone for a safety, but missed the tackle. Monroe County has a great set of skilled kids, so when they get a step on you, they have four or five guys that will take it to the house," said Thompson.
Wayne County fumbled away the football on their next series, which setup the Falcons next score, Monroe County used 5 plays to roll 42 yards and score on an Arnett 4 yard keeper.
The point-after moved the score to 21-0, with 10:42 left in the first half.
Wayne County answered with their only score of the contest, set up by a Shawn Dishman 33 yard pass to Kyle Gehring. Four plays later Dishman rolled in from 1 yard out, to cap-off the 6-play, 66 yard march. Jr. Ruiz booted the kick to close the gap to 27-7, with 7:44 left in the half.
After the teams traded punts Monroe County added to their lead with a Jacob Landon 28 yard touchdown run. The drive raced 54 yards, in only 3 plays and pushed the lead to 28-7 with 2:45 left in the second stanza.
The Falcons added to their lead with only :01 left in the half, as Arnett found Trent Tooley in the end zone from 25 yards out, to convert on a 4th down and 14 yards to go situation. Scott Harrison stayed perfect on the night with the extra point which left the halftime score at 35-7.
"A lot of should've, would've and could'ves in the first half. We really had a chance, despite our mistakes but couldn't get anything going on offense at 21-7. Our kids never quit and I though our defensive effort was much more aggressive in the second half," said Thompson.
Monroe County finished with just 47 yards in the second half, but Wayne County didn't fair any better with 55 yards, as neither team would reach the end zone, as the Falcons cruised to a 35-7 season opening win.
Dagan Shelton paced the defensive effort with 6 total tackles and a fumble recovery, while Chris Wright added 6 tackles from the linebacker position Kyle Ashley added an interruption and Travis Pace claimed a fumble recovery, as the defensive unit totaled 3 turnovers.
"Alignment was pretty good and we made some plays, but we also have a lot of work to do," said Thompson.
Up next for the squad is an open week, before another tough road date at Rockcastle County.
‘We can heal up a bit and just go back to work. We are very young in spots, so the week of practice will be a good thing for our team. The open date allows for some more fundamental work plus we can start working on Rockcastle County a bit," said Thompson.
For a preview of the match up check next week's edition of The Outlook.