Gallery by Greg Barnett
Montcalm – It took the Montcalm offense three quarters to put Paden City away Saturday afternoon.
The General defense meanwhile made the Wildcats’ efforts to gain traction moot.
Montcalm held Paden City’s offense to 0 yards or less on four of its eight drives, earning a 30-0 victory at Prudich Stadium in Montcalm.
The Wildcats were held to just 76 yards of total offense with 50 of those coming through the air. Their rushing offense gained just 26 yards on 20 attempts, becoming the second consecutive team to be shut out by the Generals.
“I’m happy anytime we can hold a team to under 100 yards of offense,” Montcalm coach Adam Havens said. “No points gives you a good shot at winning. Our defense was really good on the edges. We contained the edges and kept everything in the middle of the field. It makes it difficult to get explosive plays that way. When you limit explosive plays and make teams drive it on you it make things that much more difficult.”
Forcing a turnover on downs at its own 45 to get the ball, Montcalm got its offense rolling with with a six-play, 55-yard drive that ended with a 30-yard touchdown pass from Jaylen Younger to Tristen Cline. The Generals found similar success on their second drive as well, traveling 65 yards in eight plays and extending their advantage to 12-0 when Younger snuck in from a yard out at the 11:26 mark of the second quarter. But the next 23 minutes proved a struggle between penalties and negative plays.
The hosts snapped that skid to open the fourth when Logan Carver found pay dirt from two yards out and extended the lead to 24-0 on the following drive when Younger and Cline hooked up again for a 36-yard score. Jayden Shrewsbury added the finishing touches when he barreled in from six yards out to account for the final six points of the game.
Despite the mid-game lull, the Generals fared well on offense with a mix of explosive plays and sustained drives. They finished 7-of-11 on third down conversion attempts, rushing for 291 yards and picking up 129 through the air.
“Getting positive yards on first and second down and staying in those manageable situations opens the playbook up,” Havens said. “Being able, when you get behind the sticks, to hit an explosive to get you back on track really helped us. And again it was about the edges. We were able to hit edges on offense and get our guys in space and that really gave us an edge.”
The shutout marks only the second time in program history the Generals have pitched two shutouts in a season with the other such instance occurring in 2017 when they shutout Hannan and Hundred. It falls in line with the excitement surrounding the program which improves to 2-0 and is coming off an 8-2 season, aiming for the first playoff berth in school history.
“I think attention to details is different this year,” Havens said. “We were kind of lax today and didn’t handle those details like we want to handle them – way too many penalties and mistakes but we’re not turning the ball over. Last year we turned the ball over in very crucial situations and this year we’re really controlling the ball, sustaining drives and controlling the clock.”
Carver led Montcalm with 120 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries while Shrewsbury turned his eight totes into 62 yards. Jaylen Younger finished 7-of-12 passing for 129 yards and two touchdowns with Cline hauling in four of those passes for 90 yards and two more scores.
The Generals will travel to Craig County, Va. on Friday.
PC: 0 0 0 0 – 0
M: 6 8 0 18 – 32
Scoring Plays
Q1
M: Cline 30 yard pass from Younger (Conv fails)
Q2
M: Younger 1 rush (Conv fails)
Q4
M: Carver 2 rush (Conv fails)
M: Cline 36 yard pass form Younger (Conv fails)
M: Shrewsbury 6 rush (PAT missed)
Individual Statistics
Rushing – PC: Joseph Baker 8-10, Brayden Neff 9-8, Ashton Little 1-6, Kayden Myers 1-0; M: Logan Carver 13-120-1, Jayden Shrewsbury 8-62, Tyler Stevenson 5-52, Isaiah ink 5-25, Jayden Price 3-20, Trevor Nunn 1-6, Jaylen Younger 5-3-1
Passing – PC: Kayden Myers 5-13-50-0TDs-1INT; M: Jaylen Younger 7-12-129-2TD-1INT
Receiving – PC: Brayden Neff 1-31, Ashton Little 1-17, Jeremiah Thomas 2-6, Joseph Baker 1-(-4); M: Tristen Cline 4-90-2, Joseph Kennett 2-22, Logan Carver 1-17
