Take care of the football and play solid defense has been a winning combination on the gridiron for as long as the game of football has existed.
For the second week in a row, it was also the formula for success for Mingo Central’s first-year head coach, Chase Moore.
Coming off a 65-0 thrashing of Tolsia last week, the Miners re-ignited their playoff chances with a 45-12 road victory over Shady Spring Friday.
“Hats off to our staff. They get them ready week end and week out. It is nice to get a couple of wins together and see the hard work paying off on the scoreboard,” Moore said. “Offensively we took care of the ball. You try not to look back, but when you look back and see those losses, you think, man if we could have just held onto that ball a little bit.”
Playing without some key players lost because of ejections in last week’s Wyoming East game, Shady made things uncomfortable for the visitors on the opening drive.
Chewing up the first quarter clock, the Tigers ran off 15 plays and moved the ball inside the red zone.
Although the drive stalled when the Miners held on downs at their own 10-yard line, Shady still had a golden opportunity if it could get a stop.
That opportunity looked to be at hand with Mingo Central facing a third-and 15 from its own five-yard line.
“When (Shady) drove that ball down, I was thinking we were going to be in a little bit of a dogfight here. The defense stepped up and took care of business,” Moore said. “I wish I could get a couple more years of Norm Kennedy. We kinda put the game on his and the offensive line’s back and they took care of business.”
With the Tiger defenders bearing down on him, freshman quarterback Caden Porter executed a perfect screen pass to Kennedy who broke loose for 34 yards and a crucial first down.
Six plays later including another big pass to Preston Smith for 32 yards, Porter crashed in from one yard out for the game’s first score.
The screen game would haunt Shady all night in crucial game situations.
“It was something we put in a couple weeks ago,” Moore said of the screen pass. “We tried to run it against Greenbrier East, and they were just all over it. We did have a little bit of success last week, however. When it was third-and-15, they like to bring that heat on the long down-and-distance situations. We felt like we could be successful with it.”
The use of the screen play also caught the Shady Spring coaching staff somewhat off-guard.
“They didn’t screen much at all. They probably saw the style of defense we played last week with a little bit of man and us coming hard,” Shady Spring head coach Vince Culicerto said. “I am sure they had it and just dusted it off. We didn’t see it on any film, and it was a good call. They got on our guys and executed it well.”
Even though it was only a 7-0 game after the first quarter, Shady (4-3) never seemed to recover from the opening sequence.
“We had a good early drive, but we didn’t capitalize and get a score. That is kinda what our offense has been doing a little bit lately,” Culicerto said. “We would do a good job of stopping them, but then they big played us. They did a good job of calling their stuff and we didn’t make the plays. I thought our team fought hard all night, but they were just better. They executed better. They got the big plays, and we didn’t.”
Trailing 13-0 midway through the second quarter after a six-yard touchdown run from Kennedy, the Tigers scored on a 16-yard hook-up from Cameron Manns to Ian Whited.
However, the Miners (3-4) wasted no time squelching the Shady momentum, scoring three times over the next five minutes of the contest.
A 45-yard burst from Kennedy was followed by a 15-yard touchdown strike from Porter to Preston Smith. Four minutes later, Kennedy took a screen pass from Porter and rambled 56 yards for another score.
Leading 25-6 at halftime, Kennedy scored from 52 yards out on the first play of the second half. The senior standout tallied 207 yards on 20 carries and had three catches for 94 yards in the game.
A four-yard touchdown run from Bryson Pinardo with seven minutes to play in the third period gave the Tigers some life, but the home team could get no closer.
“No doubt the play to start the half was big. They got the decent return out to midfield, then the next play goes down the field. We were trying to get momentum going and they made the play,” Culicerto said. “We fought back, got a score and held them a couple of times, but offensively, we just couldn’t find something that worked to hang our hat on.”
With three games left in the regular season, both teams still feel they have a good chance to make the postseason.
“After we dropped that game against (Greenbrier) East, we basically pinned ourselves into a corner. Now it is win out and maybe squeak in,” Moore said. “We have decided that we are taking it one game at a time. We are in the playoffs right now. Each week is like game one of the playoffs for us. We have a good one lined up for us at home next week against (Class AA No. 1) Herbert Hoover. Hopefully, we can carry this momentum over to that game.”
“The next three games, we have to get ready to compete. We will get everybody back and we didn’t get anybody injured tonight, so that is a plus,” Culicerto said.
Shady Spring will host Class AAA Ripley this Friday.
MC: 7 18 13 7 – 45
SS: 0 6 6 0 – 12
First quarter
MC: Caden Porter 1 run (Hunter Nicholas kick)
Second quarter
MC: Norm Kennedy 6 run (kick no good)
SS: Ian Whited 13 pass from Cameron Manns (kick no good)
MC: Preston Smith 15 pass from Porter (kick blocked)
MC: Kennedy 56 pass from Porter (rush failed)
Third quarter
MC: Kennedy 52 run (pass failed)
SS: Bryson Pinardo 4 run (rush failed)
MC: J.R. Perry 8 pass from Porter (Nicholas kick)
Fourth quarter
MC: Kennedy 9 run (Nicholas kick)
Game Stats
Rushing: (MC) Kennedy 20-207-3, Porter 7-43-14, Chubby Runyon 1-6, Kaden Boling 2-6, Jacob Cline 1-3; (SS) Pinardo 6-18-1, Manns 7-10, Caleb Whitaker 7-10, Brian Evans 3-7, Aiden price 2- (-2)
Passing: (MC) Porter 12-21-206-3; (SS) Manns 10-23-63-1
Receiving: (MC) Kennedy 3-94-1, Perry 2-17-1, Smith 6-93-1, Conley 1-2; (SS) Hayden Johnson 2-17, Jake Showalter 2-17, Whitaker 3-10, Whited 1-16-1, Tyler Mackey 1-5, Pinardo 1-(-2)
