Tigers trump Rockets

BEARDSTOWN — After taking control of their homecoming game in the first half, the Beardstown Tigers sent their family, friends, and fans home with a 21-7 victory over longtime rival Rushville-Industry Rockets.

With last night’s victory, Beardstown (2-4, 1-2 WPT Southwest) doubled its entire win total from last season.

“It’s good for high school football when you have two rivals playing each other,” Beardstown coach Aaron Elmore said. “It’s my first time being in this rivalry, and I have seen all week that the Beardstown and Rushville players just don’t like each other too much.”

Beardstown was able to score on both its drives in the first quarter. The Tigers got their first touchdown on their second play of the game. Then using an eight-play drive, the Tigers scored again late in the first.

“We matched up better against Rushville,” Elmore said. “We are very young in certain areas. The last couple of weeks we have had a hard time matching up with most our opponents.”

The Tigers got great field position to start their opening drive off a bad punt snap, recovering the ball on Rushville’s 36-yard line. Two plays later, junior Cole Carlock took the ball 34 yards down the field on a quarterback keeper for the first of his two touchdowns, and the Tigers had a 7-point lead.

His second score came near the end of the second quarter on a one-yard run.

“The first TD, we got a really good push up front and they didn’t know where the ball was,” Carlock said. “The play calling by coach helped out a lot.”

Carlock was 5-of-9 passing for 102 yards with no interceptions. His five completions went to just three players. In addition, he ran the ball for another 43 yards on seven carries.

“Tonight was one of my best games ever,” Carlock said. “Last year we had a couple of good games, but this year is by far the best season I have ever had.”

“(Carlock) gets better every week,” Elmore said. “He has come a long way and is going to be tough for the next year and a half or so.”

Senior Sirrell Youngblood led the team in yardage with 44 yards on the ground on eight carries. Tyson Nordsiek who had 11 tough yards on 12 carries, including a one-yard touchdown run with 2:35 left in the first quarter.

With the Tigers leading 21-0 at halftime, the team was looking for a shutout.

“We talked at halftime about not letting them score,” Elmore said. “Unfortunately we did let them score.”

Rushville-Industry (2-4, 1-2) finally got on the scoreboard on its second possession of the third quarter.

Starting at their own 28-yard line, the Rockets used an eight-play drive to get their only touchdown. The Rockets technically scored twice on that drive, but the first was called back due to a penalty. Facing a fourth down with 3 yards to go, the Rockets faked a punt, and quarterback Kyle Briney ran the ball 46 yards to the end zone. That play was called back because of a holding penalty. Briney and the Rockets had to settle for a 13-yard gain and a first down.

Two plays later, senior Alex McKelvey took the ball and ran 39 yards for the score, then kicked the PAT. That ended the scoring for both teams.

The Rockets tried an onside kick, but it failed, and the Tigers started their next drive on their own 49-yard line. Beardstown managed to move the ball all the way down to the Rushville 9 before senior Christopher Yost fumbled the ball away at the end of the third quarter.

Late in the fourth as the Rockets were again trying to make the game closer, they used 14 plays in getting to the Beardstown 4-yard line. When the Rockets’ sophomore quarterback tossed a pass toward the end zone, senior Johnathon Blair picked it off and got it back to the 15-yard line for the Tigers.

“The kids didn’t give up,” Elmore said. “They came to play and were fired up after the interception.”

The Tigers then took nine plays to run out the clock and secure a victory in their homecoming game.

Next week both the Tigers and the Rockets play conference games. Beardstown hosts PORTA, and Rushville-Industry will host Hamilton.

“We are going to try to win the rest of our games,” Elmore said. “If we take them one game at a time and win out, we still have a chance to make the playoffs.”

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