COLONY — It took three plays on offense for Marmaton Valley High’s Wildcats to score the game’s first touchdown.
The second, third, fourth, etc., didn’t even take that long.
Marmaton Valley put forth a devastating show of efficiency, scoring six rushing touchdowns on the team’s first 10 carries of the game, rolling to a 56-0 win over an undermanned Crest squad.
“As cliche as it sounds, we’re just trying to improve every week,” Wildcat head coach Max Mickunas said. “We were better than we were last week, and we were good last week.”
Senior quarterback Ty Lord rushed for 107 yards and three touchdowns on four carries. He completed 3 of 7 passes for 74 yards and another score, a 37-yard bomb to junior tailback Cooper Scharff. Sharff also rushed for 104 yards on four carries and two more scores.
Todd Stevenson was just as effective, rushing twice for 67 yards and a touchdown. Brevyn Campbell added 37 yards on two receptions.
The Wildcats raced to a 40-0 lead by the end of the first quarter, and was content to play ultra conservatively in the second quarter.
The Lancers, who have been decimated by injuries throughout the season, had no answer. Crest crossed midfield only once, against the punishing Wildcat defense.
“They’re very well coached,” Crest head coach Nick McAnulty said. “We knew it was going to be a tough game. They’re fast, and they fly to the football.”
“Crest is a super well-coached football team,” Mickunas said. “It’s unfortunate they’ve had some injuries. We wanted to make sure we came out and played hard and played our game. We executed very well and played great on defense.”
In fact, two long touchdown plays were called back due to penalties, only for the Wildcats to bounce back with even longer touchdown runs on the next snap.
“A lot of that is our coaches,” Stevenson said. “They drew up good plays for us.”
“Tonight went well,” Scharff agreed. “We put our heart into it, especially on a night like this.”
On top of being Crest’s Homecoming — Jensen Barker was crowned Homecoming King alongside Queen Kinley Edgerton — fans and coaches of both teams donned yellow T-shirts in a collaborative effort to promote mental health awarenes and suicide prevention.
“It was amazing,” Mickunas said. “I’m thankful they agreed to do that with us.”
McAnulty hopes to get some of his wounded players back in the lineup.
