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| Indians finish off Panthers in first half |
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9/21/2018
By Dan Manley
Advocate Sports Editor
Get there, Get an early lead and then a running clock. Play everybody you can and don’t get anybody hurt. Get back home.
That’s the formula that Coach Jamie Egli has for his teams when they take on an opponent that can’t quite match the Tribe.
Friday night at Fleming County that plan worked to perfection.
The Indians went in nursing a few minor injuries so they were without a few players.
Still, the Tribe defense forced eight, count them, eight, turnovers in the first half and raced out to a 41-0 lead on the Panthers.
Egli pulled his starting units at halftime and with a running clock the Indians coasted to a 41-14 win for their fourth win in five starts and third in a row.
Once again the Montgomery County coach directed his team to an easy win without humiliating the opposition.
Fleming County was outmanned with a young team following the loss of a quality group of seniors a year ago.
With the running clock in their favor, the MCHS coaches simply let the back-up players get every single snap in the second half without concern for the final score.
“We were a little sloppy in the first half but all in all it was a pretty good effort,” Egli said. “The guys that got a start because of some minor injuries played well and that’s what we count on. Now those injuries have an extra week to get better and hopefully we’ll be at full strength coming out of the bye week.”
The Indians get a week off before hosting South Laurel for their Homecoming game a week from Friday and then they move into their district schedule.
Due to all of the turnovers the statistics from Friday night ended up very misleading.
Each team had nine first downs and the Indians outgained the Panthers just 225 to 137.
Short fields to work with after those turnovers made it an easy night for the Indians, even without the services of fullback Josh Wheaton who was one of those players sidelined with an injury.
Slow start
The Indians actually got off to a slow start.
Fleming County took the opening kickoff and the Indians got an interception from senior Ty Eads on the third play of the game.
Eads picked off the pass at his own 40 and returned it 15 yards.
But the Indians got hit with a holding penalty during their first series and gave the football up on downs at the Panther 46.
Three plays later the Panthers lost a fumble and the ball went back toward their goal line with junior linebacker Tyler Hamm recovering at the Panther 15.
On the next play junior quarterback Trey Ishmael hooked up with senior Pharoah Davis on a 15-yard scoring pass. The extra point was wide left and the Indians led 6-0 with exactly four minutes gone in the game.
Another turnover
On the ensuing kickoff Ty Eads recovered an on-side kick at his own 49 after it hit off of a Fleming County player.
Seven plays later the Indians were in the end zone again on a three-yard pass from Ishmael to Davis.
Senior wingback Justin Korossy set up the scoring play by going on a 45-yard jaunt down the sideline and the lead grew to 13-0 with 5:15 still to play in the first period.
Less than two minutes later after a Pharoah Davis interception, junior Jaden Akers raced through the Panther defense on a 32-yard scoring run and the lead was 20-0.
More of the same
In the second period it was more of the same for the Indians.
Tyler Hamm recovered another fumble , this time at the Fleming County 24 and Korossy took it to the end zone on the next play to make it 27-0 with 11:33 to go in the half.
Jay Eads recovered an onside kick but this time the Indians gave the football back on an interception by Fleming County’s junior cornerback Kaleb Flannery.
But it was only five plays later when Ty Eads intercepted another pass and this time he took it to the end zone from 40 yards out and the lead was 34-0 with 8:21 to go in the half.
The next Fleming County possession yielded a fumble recovery by junior Ellis Brinegar at midfield and that led to another score.
After a couple of minor penalties on the Indians, Akers raced 32 yards and then Korossy took it in from 23 yards out for his second TD of the night to make it 41-0.
In a half where the Indians gave the ball up on downs, threw an interception and had to punt once they still managed to put up 41 points and that started the running clock, geared to speed up a lop-sided game.
Defensive
shutdown
The Indians allowed Fleming County just 18 net yards in the first half, four running and 14 passing.
Montgomery County gained 193 yards in the half, including 112 yards on eight rushing attempts by Korossy and 64 yards on only two attempts by Akers and they didn’t play a down in the second half.
The Indians had just two possessions in the second half and the back-up offense stared the half by keeping the football for over seven and a half minutes as the clock ran.
The Panthers scored both times they had the football with drives of 57 and 32 yards to account for the final score.
Both of those touchdowns were scored by sophomore running back Tanner Weaver.
Panthers 1-4
The young Fleming County team saw their record go to 1-4 on the season while the Indians improved to 4-1.
Fleming County travels to 4-1.
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