Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Hopkins County Central did not need any help from Fulton County in its 63-0 Browning Bowl victory on Saturday, but the Storm got it anyway.
The Pilots committed penalties throughout, which gave the Storm better field position and helped to extend several drives.
Central took advantage and even tried to encourage Fulton players to jump the snap of the ball, coach Rick Snodgrass said.
“We have an O-play when we come to the line of scrimmage, and we called it a couple of times and got them to jump offsides,” he said. “That’s part of the things we do. Give our kids credit, they didn’t jump and their kids did. That’s part of the discipline and the things we demand....”
One of the bigger Fulton penalties happened in the final minutes of the first half when Fulton faced a punt situation.
The Pilots got the punt off successfully and the Storm appeared ready to begin their drive at midfield, but a holding penalty wiped out the play.
Snodgrass elected for Fulton to re-kick, and Central received the ball at the Pilots’ 39.
With less than 40 yards separating the Storm from another score, the team converted when Jake Powell found Keith Couch on a 29-yard touchdown.
For Couch, the touchdown was his fourth of the half and gave Central a 42-0 advantage.
Couch finished the day with three receptions and rushed three times for 42 yards, but his brother Kevin led the Storm with five catches for 61 yards.
After the game, Snodgrass said the pair is important to the team’s offensive scheme, in both the passing and running game.
“Keith and Kevin both are exceptional athletes,” he said. “Keith plays the slot spot for us and we do several things with him. When you have an athlete like that, that is multi-talented, you’ve got to find ways to get him the football and that’s basically what our offense is designed to do, to get our playmakers the football.”
Defensively, Nathan Crick also caught Snodgrass’ attention. Crick, the 5-11, 161-pound junior, heard his name repeated many times for tackles on both defense and special teams.
“Nathan did a great job, he always does,” Snodgrass said. “He’s a go-getter, he’s a tough kid. He’s one of our leaders...I don’t know how many tackles he had, but he seemed to be around the ball quite a bit.”
Snodgrass continued and said although Crick and his fellow defenders are not very big up front, they are quick and strong, which allows them to penetrate the offensive line and disrupt opponents’ backfields.
“We run a lot of different packages and blitz quite a bit,” he said. “I don’t think (Fulton was) doing a good job of picking up the stunts we were bringing at them. That’s just our style of football. We’ll come after you and we’re aggressive up there.
“Sometimes it can be feast or famine, but tonight we got to the quarterback and were able to put some pressure on him.”
Back-up quarterback Jesse Almon led a Central group of reserves in the fourth quarter that performed well as well. Also stepping up in the final quarter was sophomore Jaylon McCoy.
McCoy rushed six times for 25 yards, including Central’s last touchdown, a 4-yard run with 6:47 remaining in the game.
“He’s a really talented kid,” Snodgrass said. “He’s just got to continue to work hard in practice, and if he does that he’s going to do some exciting things for us.”
There’s no doubt McCoy and the rest of the Storm will be hard at work practicing this week. Central will play host to Madisonville-North Hopkins 7:30 p.m. Friday. Both teams enter the season 1-0 after respective Browning Bowl victories.
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