With an opportunistic offense and a defense which forced numerous turnovers, the MUS varsity football team rebounded from its first loss two weeks ago with an impressive 34-12 victory over the Kingsbury Falcons in front of a Homecoming crowd at Hull-Dobbs.
MUS (8-1) showed their strength on defense early against Kingsbury (2-7) as Hugh Francis forced a Henry-Cannon fumble on the game’s sixth play, giving the Owls possession at the Kingsbury 43.
With the good field-position, the offense took advantage as MUS went on a 7 play, 43-yard drive, capped off by a 15-yard touchdown pass from QB Michael Park to WR Max Prokell. However, MUS could not capitalize on the PAT, so the score remained 6-0 with 5:31 remaining in the first quarter.
After the defense had forced the Falcons to punt after three plays on the next possession, the MUS offense once again took advantage of good field position and moved the ball using a strong rushing attack. From there, senior RB Whit Cox scored from 7 yards out, culminating the 4-play, 31-yard drive to extend the lead to 12-0. Park connected with Prokell for the two-point conversion to give the Owls a 14-0 lead with 2:27 remaining in the quarter.
The MUS defense again wasted little time regaining the ball as Will Pickens forced a Travis-Jackson fumble on Kingsbury’s first offensive play on their next drive, and John Stokes recovered it on the Kingsbury 28-yard line.
MUS then needed only 3 plays to score again as RB Tyler Massey, who finished with 77 yards on 13 carries and also played some quarterback, dashed in from 7 yards out to give the Owls their third touchdown in the opening quarter. However, for the second time MUS could not connect on the PAT, so the score remained 20-0 heading into the second quarter.
In the second quarter, the Kingsbury offense began to make some first downs and keep the ball away from the potent Owl offense to prevent the deficit from increasing. But the MUS defense continued to keep the Falcons off the scoreboard as they allowed only 51 total yards and squelched Kingsbury’s only scoring opportunity with a Logan-Welch interception.
MUS started the second half with another efficient offensive drive as they used a strong passing attack to move down the field. Beginning at their own 33-yard line, the Owls used 7 plays to score as Park once again connected with Prokell, this time from 5 yards out. Chad Hazlehurst tacked on the PAT to extend the lead to 27-0.
And even the defense got in on the scoring act.
On the Falcon’s next drive, Pickens intercepted a Powell pass and rumbled 33 yards for yet another MUS touchdown. The turnover was the fourth of the night for the Owls. Hazlehurst tacked on the extra-point to give the Owls a 34-0 advantage.
With a 34-point lead, the MUS coaches played the MUS reserves, and they gained valuable experience by playing in the third and fourth quarters.
The Kingsbury offense finally put up some points as freshman back Gabriel Hunter, who finished with 201 yards on 24 carries, ran for scores of 18 and 89 yards in the final two quarters. The two Kingsbury scores ended the scoring for the game at 34-12.
Next week, the Owls look to conclude the regular season as they face off with local rival and conference opponent Briarcrest at 7:00 at Briarcrest. With some help, MUS can still get the top-seed in the Division II, AAA playoffs with a victory.