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Prep Football: Meadow Bridge runs all over Montcalm in 52-18 win

Kaiden Sims runs for 385 yards on 30 carries with six touchdowns

Rusty Udy by Rusty Udy
Saturday, October 26, 2024 1:34 am

Gallery by Heather BelcherĀ 

Meadow Bridge – There are no secrets when you line up against Meadow Bridge. The opposing defense is going to see heavy doses of tailback Kaiden Sims.

Understanding that concept and actually stopping the runaway freight train are two different tasks.

Friday night in a clash between playoff hopefuls, Montcalm had no answers for the bruising tailback.

After running for 220 yards and two touchdowns in a 14-12 win over the Generals last year, Sims made that look like child’s play.

On Senior Night in front of a packed house, Sims ran for 385 yards and six scores to power the Class A No. 15 rated Wildcats to a convincing 52-18 win over the visitors from Mercer County.

The win moves Meadow Bridge forward in its quest for a return to the postseason for the first time since 2021 and a possible home playoff game for the first time since 2014.

“Everybody was hyping this game up as a rivalry and more than it should have been in my opinion,” Sims said. “I love playing with my team. I couldn’t do anything without them. It was Senior Night here. I told my quarterback (senior) Braydon Thomas that I love him. He is like a brother to me. Same thing with the rest of (the seniors). I play for my team. We play as a team and I want to drive this team to the playoffs for the seniors. We can only do that if we play together.”

Following a forced three-and-out by the Meadow Bridge defense, Sims exploded on 44 yard run on the first play from scrimmage before scoring on a 20-yard jaunt six plays later.

A Montcalm punt and a block in the back in the back on the return pinned the Wildcats at their own 9 yard line to start the second possession.

Sims promptly went 91 yards virtually untouched to give Meadow Bridge a 16-0 lead with 7:41 to play in the opening quarter.

“We couldn’t match their physicality up front,” Montcalm head coach Adam Havens said. “Mentally we weren’t prepared for their physicality and that is what it boiled down to. That kid is unbelievably good on film and even better in person.”

Just when the rout appeared to be on, Montcalm responded with a much needed score on a 70-yard march, ending with a 30-yard touchdown run from Tyler Stevenson.

The ensuing Meadow Bridge drive was then stopped by a Wildcat fumble at the Montcalm 44 yard line, but the Generals turned the ball over on downs after moving the ball just outside the red zone.

Three play later, the visitors received another break when a sack led to a fumble recovered by the Generals. Two plays later, Jaylen Younger hit Korbin Nunn for a 14-yard touchdown, cutting the deficit to 16-14, midway through the second quarter.

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“We jump out 16-0 there, had a stop and then we turned the ball over there about the 21 yard line. It was a disappointment,” Meadow Bridge head coach Dwayne Reichard said. “It was the right play call, but we got some backside pressure. We missed somebody come through a gap.”

It was the last true gasp for the Generals the remainder of the night.

Meadow Bridge promptly regained control by moving the ball 67 yards in 12 plays. Simms did the deal from four yards out with 1:43 to play in the half. The key play in the drive was a strike from Thomas to Trent Roles for 24 yards which was the only pass of the night for the Wildcats.

“We don’t try to dwell on the past. We preach what Jelly Roll says, that windshield is bigger than the rear-view mirror,” Reichard said, smiling. “I feel like if we dwell on the mistakes that we make and get down as a team, things will start to fall apart. When we make a mistake, we want to let it go. All we can do is be better moving forward.”

One person that clearly heeded that advice was Bo Wykle.

Wykle had the first Meadow Bridge fumble of the quarter, but kept moving forward and helped the Wildcats deal a crucial blow to the Generals before the half.

Stepping in front of a pass from Younger, the sophomore standout set the offense up just 29 yards from paydirt. Four plays later, Sims roared through the Montcalm defense for a 13 yard touchdown and a 30-12 lead at the break.

“We prepared all week for this to be a tough ball game. In my mind, I hoped we could match scores,” Reichard said. “I thought their passing game was good enough that they would put points on the board. I knew we couldn’t turn the ball over and we had to score points on our own possessions.”

While Sims’ numbers and performance went a long way towards the crushing win, the Meadow Bridge defense did its part by slowing down the prolific passing game from the Generals.

“Our defensive game plan was to dare them to run the football. We unloaded the box, put people in coverage and sent a couple of pressure packages. That was our goal,” Reichard said. “We felt like if they were as committed to the passing game as they had been, they would have trouble running the football effectively, over time.”

Younger came in leading the area in passing, averaging over 223 yards per game. The Wildcats never allowed the signal caller to get in a groove all night, surrendering a mere 101 yards through the air.

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“Losing Tristen Cline to an injury early on changed the whole dynamic of our offense. That is no excuse because we have kids that need to step up, but we were not able to move the ball as well as we thought we would,” Havens said. “They out-schemed us a little bit. They threw some things at us that we didn’t see on film and weren’t prepared for. There are no excuses. They were just more physical and when that happens, you get beat.”

Needless to say, the veteran Meadow Bridge coach was more than pleased with the defensive performance.

“We did a good job and our kids played well,” Reichard said. “The secondary stepped up when they needed to. We had a couple of interceptions there, so I can’t say enough about our secondary. The mental absorption that our kids took on this week was key because we did a lot of things different defensively than what we have done.”

“We have never played a nickel package before, but here we were,” Reichard continued. “It was very effective for us. It wasn’t that we got to the quarterback a lot, but we confused him some. Some of what we were doing was confusing them to where the open grass was.”

Montcalm recovered an onside kick to open the second half, but an interception by Trent Roles stopped the momentum in its tracks.

Sims added two more scores in the quarter and Thomas scored on a one yard plunge early in the final period for a 52-12 lead.

Meadow Bridge (6-2) travels to AA Buffalo next Friday, while Montcalm (4-4) travels to Richwood.

M: 6 6 0 6 – 18

MB: 14 16 15 7 – 52

 

First quarter

MB: Kaiden Sims 20 run (Trip Roles from Braydon Thomas pass)

MB: Sims 91 run (Bo Wykle kick)

M: Tyler Stevenson 30 run (rush failed)

Second quarter

M: Korbin Nunn 14 pass from Jaylen Younger (pass incomplete)

MB: Sims 4 run (rush failed)

MB: Sims 13 run (Trip Roles rush)

Third quarter

MB: Sims 33 run (Trip Roles rush)

MB: Sims 57 run (Jadon Butcher kick)

Fourth quarter

MB: Thomas 1 run (Butcher kick)

M: Tyler Hagerman 10 pass from Landin Clower (rush failed)

Stats

Rushing: (M) Younger 4-(-12), Jeremy Shrewsbury 4-14, Tyler Stephenson 7-54-1, Jorden Price 2-(-1); (MB) Sims 30-385-6, Trip Roles 3-9, Wykle 3-1, Thomas 6-14-1, Cameron Gibson 2-11, Korey Reichard 2-1
Passing: (M) Younger 9-24-2-101-1, Clower 4-6-0-26-1; (MB) Thomas 1-1-0-24
Receiving: (M) Cline 2-16, Tristen Pendergrass 1-7, Nunn 3-31-1, Allen 3-39, Stevenson 1-5, Hagerman 2-22-1; (MB) Trent Roles 1-24

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