Wildcats score 34-6 victory over visiting Massac County last Friday
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<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Anna-Jonesboro wasted little time taking charge on its way to a 34-6 win over visiting Massac County in high school football in the annual White Out game at The Pit Friday night, Sept. 11.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">“We haven’t played our best this year,” A-J coach Brett Detering said. “But our kids responded and they played extremely well on both sides of the ball.”</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">The Wildcats improved to 2-1 and the Patriots fell to 0-3.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">A-J was able to score touchdowns on its first four possessions of the game.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">After Massac County was halted on a fourth down incomplete pass to open the game, A-J’s offense took over. Running back Alec Gold capped a 9-play drive with a TD from the 1-yard line. Dakota Earnhart’s extra point kick put the Wildcats on top 7-0 with 3:48 remaining in the opening quarter.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">After halting the Massac County offense and forcing a punt, Collin Prather made a nifty return of the punt to give A-J good field position near midfield.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">On a drive that featured quarterback Jake Stark’s lone 12-yard pass reception to Dylan Fox, Gold scored on a 3-yard run to cap a 4-play drive. Earnhart’s extra point kick gave the Wildcats a 14-0 lead with 11:36 remaining in the second quarter.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Caleb Clover then followed with another nifty punt return to set up the next Wildcat score.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">“We had a couple of big punt returns from Prater and Clover,” Detering said. “It gave us good field position.” </span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Three plays later, Gold scored on a 14-yard plunge. Earnhart’s kick boosted A-J to a 21-0 lead with 7:52 left in the first half.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">After the Patriots punted again, A-J went to work with Gold capping a 9-play drive with a 2-yard TD run.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Earnhart’s extra point kick extended the A-J lead to 28-0 with 1:19 remaining in the first half. </span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">The Wildcats’ fifth drive of the game stalled and concluded the first half.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">A-J’s initial drive in the second half stalled near midfield on a fourth down and incomplete pass.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">The Patriots took advantage and went to work on offense for the first time and capped a 7-play drive with fullback Malik Miller scoring on a 1-yard plunge. </span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">A pass for the extra point failed and Massac County pulled to 28-6 with 8:00 left in the third quarter.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">After a botched onside kick by the Patriots, the Wildcats took over near midfield.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Nine plays later, Gold scored his fifth TD on a 3-yard run. Earnhart’s extra point kick missed and A-J closed out the scoring with 3:25 remaining in the third quarter.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">“Gold had a big night running,” Detering said. “Obviously, a lot of people were blocking for him. But, we were able to run the option and our power game well.”</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">The Wildcats defense stiffened and Jeff Stark intercepted quarterback Jay Bernard’s pass midfield to open the final quarter of play.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Both teams failed to score in the final quarter and A-J substituted freely in the waning minutes of the game.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">There were no glaring injures, but some Wildcats players went down nursing injuries during the contest.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">“We had kids who were able to step in and pick up the slack,” Detering noted. </span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">The Wildcats finished the game with 328 yards rushing, with Gold leading the way with 147 yards in 22 carries. Stark added 52 yards on 8 carries. Clover had 47 yards on 5 carries.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Stark was 1 of 7 passing for 12 yards.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">“The only thing we need to work on is throwing the ball better,” Detering said. “We’ve got to be able to throw the ball. But overall, I was pleased the way we played.”</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">The Patriots were held to 108 yards rushing and 132 yards passing. Quarterback Bernard had almost 200 yards passing in the previous week’s game.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">The White Out game was successful.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">“We were able to raise a lot of money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association,” Detering said. </span></p>