Rick Patrick
rick@greenepublishing.com
The Madison County High School (MCHS) Cowboys took advantage of numerous turnovers by the Jefferson Somerset Tigers to open their 2020 campaign with a 47-0 shut-out of their long-time rivals.
After Jefferson won the coin toss and elected to defer until the second half the Cowboys' offensive unit began their first drive at their own 42-yard line. The Cowboys methodically moved the ball down the field and capped their first offensive drive of the season with a 17-yard touchdown pass from Cowboy quarterback Mitch Rutherford to Jamie Hampton. After a successful two-point conversion, the score was 8-0 with 7:05 remaining in the opening quarter. The Tigers' first drive began on their own 28-yard line, but didn't last long. A Tiger fumble, recovered by Jahyren Lee gave the Cowboys a short field at the Tigers' 28. It was another touchdown pass from Rutherford, this time to Zechariah Jones that extended the Cowboys' lead early in the game. After a successful Point-after-touchdown (PAT), the score was 15-0 with 6:43 remaining in the first quarter. The Tigers moved backward on their next drive, resulting in the Cowboys having another short field. The next Cowboy drive was another fast one, finished off by a 16-yard touchdown run by Greg Mitchell. After another successful two-point conversion, the score was 23-0 at the 3:22 mark in the first quarter, and the Cowboy rout was on. The Tigers began their next drive at the 26-yard line, but another fumble recovered by Ke'shaun Mitchell at the Tigers' 40, put Rutherford and company back onto the field. The opening act ended with the Cowboys moving down the field with a 23-0 lead.
The Cowboy offensive unit continued to move down the field almost unimpeded when Rutherford tossed the ball to Zechariah Jones from three yards out. The PAT drifted off to the left and the Cowboys had a 29-0 lead with 9:34 remaining until intermission. On the Tigers' next drive, the Cowboys defense drove the Tigers back and on fourth down, a mishandled snap resulted in another turnover deep in the Tigers' end of the field. The Cowboys' aerial attack was effective once more as Mitch Rutherford hit Rhett Rutherford on a 15-yard catch and run. Another errant PAT left the score 35-0, with 8:00 left in the first half. The Tigers were deep in their own end of the field when Omarrion Gallon put a helmet on the ball and Lee picked the ball up and ran it into the end-zone for a scoop-and-score. The score was 41-0 with 5:56 remaining in the second quarter and a continuously running game clock. The Tigers began their next possession at the 25-yard line and the stingy Cowboy defense forced another three-and-out. The first half ended with the score 41-0, in favor of the Cowboys.
The Tigers received the ball to begin the second half at their own 25-yard line. Unable to muster any offensive threat, the Tigers once again went three-and-out. The Cowboys were treated to another short field and scored another touchdown when Jo'Kori Jackson drove the ball to pay-dirt from three yards out. The score was 47-0 as the third quarter drew to a close.
With the clock continuing to run, the Cowboys managed to keep the Tigers on their own end of the field. The Cowboys' offense had one more drive which began at mid-field. The Cowboys were content to run time off the clock. The Tigers' offense had one last drive that began at their own 37, but time ran out with the Cowboys' 47-0 shut-out well intact.
The Cowboys will now prepare to host the South Sumter High School Raiders, on Friday, Sept. 11. The Raiders are coming off a 49-30 win over Wildwood High School. Tickets are limited and will be on sale at Ace Hardware until Friday at noon. Tickets are $7 each and each customer is limited to four tickets each. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m., at Boot Hill Stadium, on the MCHS campus.