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| Steak and Bean Bowl ends on exciting note |
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5/18/2018
By Dan Manley
Advocate Sports Editor
“I think we accomplished a lot,” was the way Montgomery County head football coach Jamie Egli summed up spring football for 2018 at MCHS after last Thursday night’s annual Steak and Bean Bowl put the cap on the 10-day session.
The 14th annual event, sponsored by Whitaker Bank, saw a bit of a different ending.
The game matched the Blue Team (first team offense, second team defense) against the White Team (first team defense, second team offense).
The first teams went against each other as did the second units.
The Blues led the game at 6-0, 12-6 and 18-12 before the Whites scored to tie the game with 8:17 to play on a 10-yard scoring pass from back-up quarterback Dillon Wray to wide receiver Eric Strange.
Two plays later Rylen Owens intercepted a pass and returned it 39 yards for what proved to be the winning score for the Whites.
“This was a night to let some of the young guys have a chance to experience some success and it was really great to see Rylen Owens make that kind of a play at the end.”
Owens is out for football for the first time and Egli said it was obvious he’d have a chance to make a difference in the Tribe secondary in the fall.
“He’s an athlete, he catches on fast and he’s come a long way in the last couple of weeks,” Egli said.
The game was played without the services of Charles Andrew Collins and Justin Korrosy.
Collins was on the sidelines because as Egli put it “we know what he can do” and Korrosy is still waiting to be cleared for contact after suffering a broken leg late last season.
“He’s worked really hard and exceeded expectations and we’re confident he’ll be ready to go in the next few weeks.”
Wide receiver Pharoah Davis and some of the other returning regulars also settled for limited playing time, although Davis had a big game in just a half with five catches for 121 yards and a touchdown.
Two of the obvious things were the abundance of talent in the skill positions and the abundance of big, young players in the line positions.
While a couple of veterans, Kade Bowlin on defense and Mason Baker on offense, return to anchor the lines, there are numerous players with size and the ability to move that will step in to key spots in the trenches.
Most of those players received a lot of playing time last year in a reserve role.
The Blues got the lead when returning quarterback Trey Ishmael directed a 59 yard drive in 12 plays with returning fullback Josh Wheaton going in from 15 yards out with 10:33 to play in the first half.
The Whites bounced right back with a 70-yard drive in 11 plays to tie the game at 6-6.
No extra points were attempted in the game. The Indians will return junior-to-be Zane Carter who had an outstanding year kicking the ball last year and looked outstanding warming up though they did not go live in an phase of the kicking game Thursday night.
Teams took the ball at their own 30 yard line after scores and there were no punts in the game.
The Blues broke that tie less than a minute later with 2:21 to play in the first half when Ishmael hooked up with Davis on a 51-yard scoring play to make it 12-6.
Again, the White Team came back to tie the game as sophomore-to-be Dillon Cundiff had runs of 19 and 13 yards and then Dylan Wray hooked up with Eric Strange hooked up on a 29-yard scoring pass with just 16 seconds left in the half.
“These guys are all going to continue to get bigger and stronger and in many cases gain some speed, too, if they continue to work the way they have during the off-season,” Egli noted.
“It was great for these players to get a feel for what’s ahead. Now, when we have our full complement of players in the fall, they’ll be primarily having a great junior varsity season and playing back-up roles on Friday night and getting ready when their time comes, which sometimes will be sooner than we expect.”
In the second half the Blues took their final lead at 18-12 when Gabe Miller ran 15 yards for a score to cap a 68-yard, 13-play drive to make it 18-12.
That set the stage for the Whites to get the final two scores of the game to get the win.
Runs wasted
Junior-to-be Jaden Akers would probably have been the outstanding player of the game had it not been for a couple of penalties.
Akers, who was one of a few players who played for both teams, ran the ball nine times for 78 yards, officially.
But he had touchdown runs of 75 and 70 yards called back because of penalties.
Akers gives the Tribe that extra experienced back along with Collins, Korrosy and Wheaton, that is a great addition.
Ishmael was solid
Despite the late interception, junior-to-be quarterback Trey Ishmael was solid.
He finished seven of 12 for 142 yards.
He’s bigger and stronger and probably in the fall we’ll see Ishmael throw the ball a little more than last year and definitely run the ball more.
Rutledge moved
One of the real positives for the Tribe in the spring was moving senior-to-be Andrew Rutledge from running back to linebacker.
Rutledge was sort of the odd man out at running back, but an athlete too good to not have on the field. With plenty of young depth on offense, Rutledge made the move to defense and looked really good on the defensive side, where the Indians have had numbers problems.
Purvis to center
Another change in the spring was the placement of Andrew Purvis, one of those really large sophomores-to-be, to center, allowing junior-to-be Mason Baker to move out to a guard spot.
The offensive line is still a work in progress but it appears the players are there to fill the posts adequately.
PLAYERS missing
There were at least six players not suited up for the game, other than Collins and Korrosy, involved in other sports or injured.
Most notably, Jay Eads who is on the baseball field and Ty Eads who is out with an injury.
Tyler Jacobs was another part-time starter in the secondary wh
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