McKenzie shut out by Pleasant Home, 33-0
Published 12:00 am Sunday, September 17, 2006
It wasn't a happy homecoming for McKenzie head football coach Miles Brown.
Brown watched Pleasant Home (2-1) basically run over, through, and around his Tigers' defense as the Eagles took a 33-0 win over McKenzie (1-2) on Friday night.
Brown was an assistant coach at Pleasant Home last year before being named head coach of McKenzie during the offseason. He played football for the Tigers.
“We just weren't as physical as they were,” said Brown following the loss. “They did what they wanted to on offense. It goes back to coaching. I'll take the blame for this one and we'll get back to work on Monday.”
Brown was pleased with his team for fighting hard in the second half. The Tigers allowed just one touchdown after halftime, but gave up 26 points in the first and second quarters of play.
The Eagles fed McKenzie's defense a heavy dose of running plays.
Misdirections, traps, sweeps to the right and sweeps to the left.
But the biggest play may have been the first one of the game. Junior running back Jared Powell returned the opening kickoff all the way for the touchdown. With barely 15 seconds gone from the clock, Pleasant Home led 6-0.
“I thought we may have gotten down after that,” said Brown. “We were never able to recover.”
The Tigers best chance of scoring following Powell's return came on their first offensive series of the game. Relying heavily on the legs of running back Calvin Henderson, the Tigers drove to the Eagles' 5-yard line but were turned away following a series of bad plays and a pair of penalties. On fourth and goal from the 8-yard line, Henderson was stopped in the backfield and the Eagles took over.
Powell added another touchdown - a 9-yard scoring run with 2:29 left in the first quarter - and Josh Dozier scored on a 7-yard touchdown run early in the second period of play, giving Pleasant Home a 20-0 lead.
With 4:36 left before halftime, Dozier added an 8-yard touchdown run for the Eagles.
“We worked on stopping their (PHS) offense all this week, but we didn't do a good job of it tonight,” said Brown.
Offensively, the Tigers couldn't keep up with Pleasant Home. Henderson was stopped in the backfield before he could even get started.
Fullback Clark Sanders iced the game for Pleasant Home scoring on a 1-yard touchdown plunge with 8:38 remaining.
The Tigers host Zion Chapel next Friday night in McKenzie. Pleasant Home at
Providence Christian. Kickoff for both games is at 7 p.m.