Heading into its rival contest against Carroll Academy last Friday night on the road, Kirk Academy’s football team knew it would be a tough battle from the opening kickoff.
With only 14 players available for the Raiders (0-2), that theory proved true as the senior laden Rebels (2-0) jumped out to a quick 8-0 lead just 32 seconds into the game on their way to a 41-0 shutout victory.
“The plan was to go do what we needed to do early, get the game in hand and then try to get everybody in and not get anybody hurt,” CA head football coach Bo Milton said after the game. “We wanted everybody to play hard; we weren’t going to not play hard and I think all of our kids did that.”
Fortunately for both teams, aside from some bangs and bruises, neither suffered severe injuries as district play approaches for Kirk this week against North Delta (1-1) and Carroll faces a big home test against Class AAAAA Magnolia Heights (1-1).
“You’ve got to tip your hat to them,” Milton said. “They showed up tonight, they didn’t forfeit. They came out here and they played. I wish them the best of luck the rest of the year, but we did what we were supposed to do tonight and I’m proud of the way our team handled it.”
Carroll’s first score of the contest came on a 58-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Brennan Blaylock to senior running back Loftin Holly. The Top 5 Rebels added 26 additional first-half points as the home team cruised to the win.
“We were not wanting to get anybody else hurt,” KA interim football coach and head of school Jay Watts said. “Of course, we started the game with 14 players, so I was very concerned about being able to finish the game. We had way too many kids that didn’t come off the field at all against a very tough team.”
Senior linebacker Mattox Carpenter scooped up Kirk’s first offensive snap off the turf and returned it 15 yards for the Rebels’ first defensive score of the night. He added the extra-point kick to give Carroll a 15-0 lead with 11:21 left in the first quarter. CA went on to score on a 1-yard touchdown by senior running back Mathis Beck, a 13-yard strike from Blaylock to senior receiver Drake Dunn and a 35-yard pick six by senior linebacker Noah Beck to gain a 34-0 lead heading into the second quarter.
The final score of the night came on the Raiders’ third play of the second quarter when Mathis Beck plucked Kirk senior quarterback Lane Goss’ pass out of the air and returned it 59 yards for the score. Following Blaylock’s PAT, the Rebels led 41-0.
“They’ve got a lot of heart; they’ve got a lot of character,” Watts said of his team. “It would be easy to just call it quits, but they’re not doing that. I was a little disappointed and I told them at halftime, we came out intimidated tonight. I thought we stepped up in the second half, but we’ve got to come out ready to play – we can’t be intimidated. We’ve played two really good football teams – as good as we’ll see all year long – and we’ve just got to grow up. We’re very, very young and very inexperienced, but we can’t come out intimidated.”
The Raiders will open District 1 play this Friday at home as they host North Delta. Watts believes having healthy players on the sideline will be key for his team to compete and vie for the win.
“I think we get most of our kids back next week, so that will be a big help,” Watts concluded. “We start our district play and we’ve got to keep working to get better; keep fighting. Another four or five players makes a huge difference. We’re going to focus on getting everybody healthy and getting a good start in district play.”
