Sports
CARDS ROUT BEAVERS FOR FIRST WIN
By Sean Saunders/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Tuesday, November 3, 2009 9:13 AM CST
LAKE VILLAGE — Staring a winless season and a last-place finish in the 8-4A Conference square in the face, the Dollarway Cardinals looked like the two-time defending state runners-up for the first time all year.
Dollarway used a nearly flawless first half to shut out the Lake Village Beavers 48-0 Monday at Beaver Stadium. The defense and the ground game then continued to carry Dollarway for the remainder of the contest.
“It was a good performance,” Dollarway coach Cortez Lee said. “I don’t really know how to put it into a different perspective, but I’m happy the guys got a victory. I’m happy we got a victory as a coaching staff. Now we’re just going to try to compete on Thursday.”
Dollarway (1-7, 1-5) racked up a season high for rushing yards in a game by halftime. The Cardinals had three rushers with more than 50 yards on the ground in the first 24 minutes on their way to 252 yards on only 21 carries (12 yards per carry).
“We had no major penalties in the first half,” Lee said. “It was weird. I wish that would have been the tale of a lot of games this year where we would have taken it at face value and seen where it went from there. There were no plays called back, so we were successful on just about every run.”
The Cardinals amassed 326 yards rushing for the game.
The Dollarway defense gave up a first down on the first Lake Village (2-6, 0-6) possession, but the Beavers wouldn’t get another for the remainder of the half. The Cardinals’ defense held Lake Village to only 21 yards of offense, forcing three sacks to lead to negative-6 yards rushing.
“It was a combination of both,” Lee said. “I thought they would be a little better on offense because they actually competed against a lot of other team in the film we watched. We just had a dominant performance on both sides today.”
For Lake Village, it was a senior night to forget for coach Andrew Jackson. Jackson saw his team pick up one first down outside of the final drive, which ended at the Dollarway 6-yard line as the mercy-rule clock, which ran all during the second half, expired.
“We played like the season is over. That’s all,” Jackson said. “We didn’t come out here to play at all. We’ve been getting beat, but we’ve been playing better than that.”
Dollarway’s 48-point beating was the largest margin of defeat all year for the Beavers.
Senior Herman Pea set the tone for the Dollarway offense by reeling off gains of 20, 26 and 31 yards on his first three carries. Junior Trey Daniels cashed in on each one of those drives with touchdown runs of 15 and 11 yards to give Dollarway a 14-0 lead after the first quarter, its largest lead of the season.
“I was proud of Herman,” Lee said. “I put it on him all year to play as a leader and a senior. He finally gave a valiant effort tonight.”
Pea finally got to crack the end zone from a yard out about midway through the second quarter. He finished with 76 yards on only six carries.
Dollarway seemed to have everything rolling its way Monday, as indicated by its fourth touchdown. Tevin Tyson broke loose on his first carry after the Cardinals took over with a little more than 6 minutes remaining in the half, but he fumbled after racing 43 yards. Sophomore Addison Grandy alertly scooped up the ball and took it the remaining 2 yards into the end zone for a touchdown.
“Grandy will be a good player before it’s all said and done,” Lee said. “That play was just an indication that things were going to go our way.”
After the Cardinals’ defense forced another three-and-out, they took over at their own 39 with more than 4 minutes remaining. Their longest drive of the game, only six plays, resulted in Kendall Scott scoring from 17 yards out, and Bryant West converting on the all-important two-point conversion to put the mercy rule in effect at the start of the third quarter.
After Dollarway’s defense had problems with closing out close games all year, the Cardinals finally put together a complete game. They held Lake Village to a season-low 58 yards of offense, as the Beavers ran 10 plays that resulted in negative yards.
Daniels ripped off a 55-yard run in the third quarter to set up Dollarway’s lone second-half offensive touchdown. Daniels finished with a game-high 146 yards on only eight carries (18.3 yards per carry).
“Trey is a really good player,” Lee said. “We just have to keep him motivated so he can reach his full potential, to take it on his shoulders to be a go-to guy.”
Sophomore Shamario Allmond made it to where Dollarway dominated in all facets of the game when he blocked a punt in the fourth quarter and recovered it in the end zone to set the final score.
Monday was just the first of a gauntlet for Dollarway to end the season. The Cardinals have to turn around and use only two days to prepare for Star City, which comes to Cardinal Stadium on Thursday looking to sew up a share of the conference championship.
DOLLARWAY 48, LAKE VILLAGE 0
Dollarway 14 22 6 6 — 48
Lake Village 0 0 0 0 — 0
SCORING SUMMARY
FIRST QUARTER
DOLLAR — Daniels 15 run (Daniels run), 6:00.
DOLLAR — Daniels 11 run (run failed), 1:10.
SECOND QUARTER
DOLLAR — Pea 1 run (run failed), 7:42.
DOLLAR — Grandy 2 fumble recovery (Pea run), 5:54.
DOLLAR — Scott 17 run (West run), 1:44.
THIRD QUARTER
DOLLAR — Hall 4 run (run failed), 2:32.
FOURTH QUARTER
DOLLAR — Allmond 0 punt block return (run failed), 9:05.
STATISTICAL LEADERS
RUSHING: Dollarway, Daniels 8-146, Pea 6-76, Tyson 2-52; Lake Village, White 13-16, Boney 1-1, King 1-(-1).
PASSING: Dollarway, Tyson 1-3-0-5; Lake Village, White 5-14-0-48.
RECEIVING: Dollarway, Laws 1-5; Lake Village, Mooney 2-22, Henderson 1-21, King 1-5.
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