MoKan 8th Graders Roll, Indiana Downs Kentucky in FBUNC Round 1
A long day of football in Kansas City, Missouri, concluded on Saturday evening with the eighth-grade games of the first round of the FBU National Championship tournament at St. Pius X High School. MoKan’s eighth-grade team wrapped up a perfect…
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Continue ReadingA long day of football in Kansas City, Missouri, concluded on Saturday evening with the eighth-grade games of the first round of the FBU National Championship tournament at St. Pius X High School.
MoKan’s eighth-grade team wrapped up a perfect day with a 28-18 victory over Wisconsin and Indiana defeated Kentucky 17-16 in the final game of the day. MoKan and Indiana will square off on Sunday in the second round for the right to travel to Naples, Florida to compete for the national championship.
MoKan vs Wisconsin
Running back Dezephen Walker has a bright future ahead of him and he showed exactly why on Saturday.
MoKan’s star ball carrier went off for three touchdowns against Wisconsin, guiding his team to a thrilling 28-18 victory over Wisconsin.
“He’s been a huge addition to our team,” MoKan head coach Ray Williams said. “He’s been with us for two years now and he’s finally coming to age now to where he sees it, he slows down, he’s got vision, so we’re really loving that part of it.”
But the round one game between these two teams featured more than just one running back in the spotlight. While Walker was doing the business for MoKan, Wisconsin giant Neeko Rodgers was causing damage on the other side of the field.
Rodgers opened the scoring for Wisconsin after reeling off a huge run to get into the red zone before trotting the ball into the endzone from 10-yards out on a run-pass option play.
The touchdown run was his first of three in the game after he also battled his way to a 24-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter and a one-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
But benefiting from being on the winning team, it’s Walker who will earn the plaudits. Well that, along with his pair of massively impressive touchdowns.
The first of his touchdowns came from 27 yards out after catching the ball on a pitch back and tip-toeing down the sideline and into the endzone.
His second touchdown was even more impressive; an explosion of pace was suddenly followed by a change in speed to change the angle of the tackle for the cornerback which allowed him to cut inside, take two players out of the game and jog into the endzone.
Walker has been working with FBU running back coaches since joining the program and Walker can see his work paying dividends.
“He learned a little bit from running back coaches and he’s applying that now and it’s just the patience of trusting the coaches and trusting the process that he’s now starting to figure that out not and it’s great to watch that happen,” Williams said.
Quarterback Cash Newberry also provided a short-yardage touchdown for MoKan en route to a home-field victory.
Indiana vs Kentucky
It took the final game of Saturday’s slate of six games in Kansas City to see a true back-and-forth affair.
It also took until the final game to see a made field goal. And not just that, but one that affected the outcome of the game.
It may have been the first score of the game when Indiana’s Trent Smith nailed one from 25 yards, but it ended up being crucial as Indiana defeated Kentucky 17-16.
“We really put a lot of emphasis on having a kicker and a guy who can score points,” Indiana coach Chad Spann said. “It’s a really important position to have and we take a lot of pride in our special teams.”
After Indiana rushed out to a 9-0 lead when Jazz Coleman picked off Kentucky quarterback Cameron O’Hara and returned the ball 77 yards for a pick-six, Kentucky soon stormed back to take the lead at 14-9.
The two touchdowns from Kentucky came from a change at quarterback, swapping out O’Hara for Mason Griffin who quickly connected with receivers Shane Parker and JayQuan Crawford to take the lead.
Spann had never beaten Kentucky while head coach as Indiana and the writing seemed to be on the wall that another defeat was coming.
But after converting a crucial fourth-down play, Indiana’s Anthony Coellner barreled into the endzone from a yard out to retake the lead. The ensuing two-point conversion extended the lead to 17-14.
Trapped in their own endzone within the final minute, Indiana took a safety to hand the ball back to Kentucky while leading by just a point. Spann’s gamble paid off as Kentucky was unable to find the endzone and the potential game-winning field goal fell well short of its target.
“These kids work hard on both sides,” Spann said. “We see Kentucky every year so those kids work super hard and so do ours.
“So it’s an emotional game and we haven’t been able to beat Kentucky these last couple of years, so getting that over the hump right now really feels good for us right now.”
Contributed special to PRZ Next by Shaun Goodwin