MANY HAPPY RETURNS:Pioneers pounce on DeKalb early
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Or, to be more precise, maybe it should be described as a “special teams” greeting.
Sophomore Kyle Mullican set the tone early, returning the game’s opening kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown and opening the floodgates for what would become a 50-6 Pioneer victory.
Five minutes later, Jacob Bratcher hauled in the punt which ended the Tigers’ first offensive drive, and scampered 92 yards to the goal line, giving his team a two-touchdown lead that DCHS (0-1) would never threaten to overcome.
“We’ve talked about special teams from day 1, almost to the point where the guys were tired of hearing about it,” said Pioneer defensive coordinator Todd Willmore. “We’ve said all along that they were going to put us in a position to make a play.
“They did it right from play one, and that was huge for us tonight.”
When the Pioneer offense finally took the field, 16 minutes and 13 seconds of the game had already passed, and Warren County needed just three plays to score its third touchdown, as Jevon Ramsey went in from the 35-yard line.
A quick three-and-out from DeKalb later, Bratcher turned in a 26-yard punt return, setting the stage for another quick and successful drive. Pioneer QB Josh Paz hooked up with Nick Cantrell for a 21-yard completion, moving the Pioneers to the 1-yard line where Evan Moran plunged in for the score.
The Tigers were forced to go three-and-out once again, and two long runs from Ramsey brought WCHS down to the 11, where Paz called his own number for another touchdown, his fourth TD run in two games.
Tony Garibaldi added his fifth PAT, and the Pioneers carried a more-than-comfortable 35-0 lead into halftime, despite having run just eight offensive plays — five of which resulted in Warren County first downs.
Special teams came through again on DeKalb’s first drive of the second half, blocking a punt and allowing the offense to take over at the Tiger 43-yard line.
Paz rumbled all the way to the goal line on second down, only to have the ball brought back on an illegal block penalty. But undeterred by the negated TD run, the senior went to the air, finding Adam Wood for a 29-yard touchdown strike. The play was the first catch of Wood’s varsity career.
Allowing the second-teamers to take over following Garibaldi’s PAT, which gave them a 42-0 lead, the Pioneer defensive unit gave up a long Tiger drive which lasted until the opening moments of the fourth quarter. The drive was stopped short of success, however, when Brandon Rich brought down Tyler Cripps on fourth-and-goal from the 2.
Mullican fumbled the ball back to the Tigers at the 13, however, and DeKalb was able to avoid the shutout when Corey Cripps scored on a 5-yard run.
WCHS answered with its final TD of the game, a 45-yard Rich run, and Mullican put the Pioneers to the half-century mark when he ran in for a 2-point conversion after fielding a bad snap.
Defensively, Warren County allowed 177 yards to the Tigers, with 100 coming on Corey Cripps’ 27 carries — an average of 3.7 yards per attempt. Forcing five DeKalb punts, Bratcher turned in 133 yards on four returns.
The Pioneer offense was led by Ramsey’s four carries for 90 yards, while Rich had 52 yards on five touches. Paz and Mullican combined for 113 passing yards, completing all five attempts. Garibaldi ws a perfect 6-for-6 on point-after tries, and all eight of his kickoffs went into the end zone for touchbacks.
The Pioneers begin Region 3-5A competition next Friday, hitting the road to Fayetteville to take on perennial state power Lincoln County. Friday night, the Falcons evened their record at 1-1 with a 42-19 victory over Blackman.
Statistics
Pioneers 50, Tigers 6
DCHS 0 0 0 6 — 6
WCHS 16 21 8 7 — 50
First Quarter
WC — Kyle Mullican 98 kickoff return (Tony Garibaldi kick), 11:38.
WC — Jacob Bratcher 92 punt return (Garibaldi kick), 6:26.
Second Quarter
WC — Jevon Ramsey 35 run (Garibaldi kick), 6:21.
WC — Evan Moran 1 run (Garibaldi kick), 4:02.
WC — Joshua Paz 11 run (Garibaldi kick), 1:08.
Third Quarter
WC — Adam Wood 29 pass from Paz (Garibaldi kick), 7:59.
Fourth Quarter
DC — Corey Cripps 5 run (pass failed), 6:51.
WC — Brandon Rick 45 run (Mullican run) 2:25.
Team Statistics
WC Team DC
7 First Downs 13
16-182 Rushes-Yds 56-152
113 Passing Yds 25
133 Return Yds 0
5-5-0 C-A-I 3-6-0
2-1 Fumbles-Lost 5-0
0-0 Punts-Avg. 5-24.2
10-135 Pen.-Yds 3-10
Individual Statistics
Warren County Rushing: Jevon Ramsey 4-90, Brandon Rich 4-52, Joshua Paz 2-24, Kyle Mullican 4-20, Shane Wilcher 2-(minus-4).
DeKalb County Rushing: Corey Cripps 27-100, Justin Cantrell 13-45, Mykel Cantrell 6-18, Tyler Cripps 2-5, Brent Collier 1-(minus-1), Ryan Childers 7-(minus-15).
Warren County Passing: Joshua Paz 4-4-0 103, Kyle Mullican 1-1-0 10.
DeKalb County Passing: Ryan Childers 3-6-0 25.
Warren County Receiving: Adam Wood 2-39, Ben Dunn 1-36, Nick Cantrell 1-21, Ethan Womack 1-17.
DeKalb County Receiving: Tyler Cripps 2-19, Corey Cripps 1-6.