On Friday night, Beaver Local’s Jibun Riley will take on Cambridge’s Tate Sikora. (Morning Journal/Ron Firth)
Calcutta — The Beavers local continued their mastery of Cambridge and kept their playoff hopes alive as the Beavers dominated the youthful Bobcats 56-0 in a running clock game at Pastore Field here on Friday night. continued.
Beaver Local (4-5) has won its second straight game against Cambridge and has outscored the Bobcats 117-14 in its past two games. The Beavers lead the all-time series against Cambridge with a 2-1 lead.
“With our team, we’ve been where we thought we should be all year.” Beaver Local head coach Mike McKenzie said. “I think we came out right away and played hard. We know we have it in us, so it’s been frustrating. Our challenge for them is to start early and play hard. It’s about taking care of business and getting serious about it, and I thought we accomplished that tonight.”
Beaver Local placed 14th in the division. IV, Region 15 (the top 16 teams advance to the playoffs) entering Friday night’s game will be hoping to clinch a fifth straight postseason berth following next week’s Week 10 game.
“Other people tell me about it (computer points). I don’t really spend time looking at it, but I’m seeing 16th to 20th place (with multiple teams) coming together. I know some people have said that.” .8 They’re all pretty harsh. ” said Mackenzie. “I just want them (to make the playoffs). I always say, these seniors are special to me because they come every day and practice hard. We have bad habits. I love coming to practice every day. It’s fun and my seniors made it fun.”
Cambridge has a very young starting lineup, including freshmen, but this season they have lost 385 wins and 45 losses, losing seven of their nine games due to time difference, leaving them with a record of 0 wins and 9 losses.
“We’re so young, but I’m really proud of them. They’re good kids.” Cambridge head coach Kevin Gunn said. “Obviously we’ve had some injuries and stuff, but they continue to come to practice and continue to do a good job. We still want to give our all and do our best.”
“Coach Gunn has done a really good job at Cambridge. They’re competing and he’s building a team. We’re going to have a very good team in a few years.” said MacKenzie.
While the Beavers gained 438 yards on offense, the defense held the Bobcats to just 67 yards, making it a night of complete domination for Beaver Local.
“It was nice to see us operate and execute like we felt like we could all year long.” observed Mackenzie. “We came out and locked in and played very clean football tonight. That was our goal.”
The Beavers scored on all seven first-half possessions on marches of 68, 55, 34, 29, 34, 22, and 20 yards, leaving no room for doubt.
The Beavers were dominant in the air and on the ground, with senior QB Taylor Johnston completing 10 of 13 passes for 151 yards and two touchdowns in the first half. He hit running back Brock Severs with a 40-yard scoring aerial and wideout Nicholas McKenzie with a 2-yard scoring aerial. Johnston also caught an 18-yard scoring pass from quarterback Wade Foster as time expired in the second quarter, giving the Beavers a 21-point lead after one quarter and a commanding 49-0 lead at halftime. gave a lead.
Sarvers said of his 40-yard touchdown reception.
“It felt good. I felt like I could beat the defender.” he explained. “Our batting line was great tonight and it gave us time to see the quarterback’s progression and reads.”
Beaver Local’s running game also gained 158 yards in the first half, with Prideaux gaining 59 yards and scoring two rushing touchdowns on runs of 3 and 7 yards, while Severs added 16 yards and 2 rushing touchdowns each. He scored on a run of 1 yard and 1 yard. Johnston added 55 yards on the turf on seven carries in the first 24 minutes.
“Since it was Senior Night, I wanted to do what I could for the team.” Sarvers added of the three-touchdown performance. “I would like to thank my seniors and everyone involved for making this possible.”
“Brock was sick and didn’t play in last week’s game against Indian Creek, but he’s obviously a big part of our offense.” said Mackenzie. “He has the ability to make big plays and he did it tonight.”
The Beavers’ final touchdown of the first half was set up by an interception by Beavers Aiden Price.
Beaver Local’s defense held the Bobcats in check in the first half, holding Cambridge to just 24 yards of total offense. By comparison, the Beavers had 17 first downs and 309 yards of offense in the first half alone.
“Our defense was great and we got a shutout.” Coach Severs praised his team-leading five interceptions this season. It was a great match overall. We were hoping to get one (interception) tonight, but our D-line was so dominant that their quarterback couldn’t even get the ball off. ”
The second half was played with a running clock, and Beaver Local running back Peyton Cowdery broke multiple tackles and scored on a 19-yard run with 4:49 left in the game, resulting in just one point after the intermission. Ta. Kicker Caleb Mays added his eighth PAT of the night to close out the score at 56-0.
“I was happy that so many people participated, and it was fun.” He praised Beaver Local’s head coach.
game memo
• Beaver Local defeated Cambridge 61-14 last season.
• The Beavers travel to Lakeview to complete their final regular season game on Friday night.
“Hopefully we can make the playoffs. I’d love to spend as many weeks as I can with these guys.” Closed Mackenzie.
• Cambridge will close out its campaign Friday night when it hosts the undefeated St. Clairsville Red Devils.
CA: 0- 0-0-0 — 0
BL: 21-28-0-7 — 56
scoring
BL — Brock Sarvers, 2 runs, 7:14 1st (Kaleb Mays kick)
BL — Brock Severs, 40 passes from Taylor Johnston, 5:25 1st (kick from Caleb Mays)
BL — Tyler Prideaux, 3 runs, 1:14 1st (Kaleb Mays kick)
BL — Brock Sarvers, 1 run, 8:53 2nd (Kaleb Mays kick)
BL — Tyler Prideaux, 7 runs, 4:47 2nd (Caleb Mays kick)
BL — Nicholas McKenzie, 2 passes from Taylor Johnston, 2:40, 2nd (Kaleb Mays kick)
BL — Taylor Johnston, pass from Wade Foster 18, :0 2nd (Kaleb Mays kick)
BL — Peyton Cowdery, 19 runs, 4:49 4th (Caleb Mays kick)
——
CA BL
First down 7 23
Total Yards 67 438
Rush Yards 28-34 38-265
passing 33 173
Comp-at-Into 5-10-1 12-15-0
Punt 6-33 0-0
Lost fumble 1-1 1-0
——
individual leader
RUSH — Cambridge, Clayton Myers 7-8, AJ Lawrence, 8-6, Marshall Reichley, 5-10, Tate Sikora, 3-7. Beaver Local, Taylor Johnston, 7-55, Brock Severs, 4-16, Tyler Prideaux, 7-59, Zaven Riley, 6-48, Lane Jones, 1-4, Derek Boyer, 1- 5, Peyton Cowdery, 3- 33, Aiden Price, 2-14.
Passed — Cambridge, AJ Lawrence, 3-4-22-0-0; Beaver Local, Taylor Johnston, 10-13-151-2-0, Wade Foster, 2-2-25-1-0.
Receiving — Cambridge, Diontae Jones, 3-12, Clayton Myers, 1-13, Cody Quillen, 2-8. Beaver Local, Wade Foster, 2-30, Brock Severs, 3-66, Taylor Johnston, 1-18, Nicholas McKenzie, 3-20, Luke Letts, 1-33, Kane. – Curran, 1 win, 7 losses.
