Bluejays can't slow Caruthersville explosive offense

sports@standard-democrat.com

CHARLESTON -- With a chance to lock up the Class 2, District 1 championship, the Charleston Bluejays proved unable to keep up with the Caruthersville Tigers' high-powered offense, falling 41-23.

"We had a couple mistakes there in the first half that kind of stumbled our offense," Charleston head coach Brett Blackman said. "We're not the type of offense that can go in and match them point-for-point.

"We need to control the ball and we didn't control the clock. That came back to haunt us early on."

Stalling the Tigers on both their first two drives, the Bluejays were able to grab an early lead when running back Rontavious Clark broke off a 57-yard run with 4:40 left in the first quarter.

Taking the ball back downfield on the next drive, Caruthersville scored less than a minute later on a 1-yard quarterback keeper by Tyler Grissom to close to within one point. A missed kicked left the Tigers trailing 7-6

Grissom's touchdown run was the start of three-straight scoring drives by Caruthersville to take the lead. With 1:14 left in the first, running back Elbie Fonda took the ball up the right sideline from 14 yards out that, following a successful two-point conversion, put the Tigers up 14-7.

On the first play of the second quarter, Darrell Monroe broke off a 12-yard run up the left side to give Caruthersville a 21-7 advantage.

"They were doing some things up front with a little stunting with some pitching," Caruthersville head coach Nathan Morgan said. "We just have some offensive lineman that need to move their feet a little better to get to the block.

"But once we started picking up the intensity we were able to get things going and it worked out for us."

Though the Bluejays were able to hold the Tigers scoreless the rest of the half, Caruthersville kicked off the second half with a 42-yard touchdown run from Fonda on the first play from scrimmage.

Taking the hopes of a Bluejays comeback out of the picture, Monroe found the endzone on fourth and goal from the 20-yard line with 11:48 to playing. Making it 41 unanswered points, Monroe scored once more on a 33-yard run with 9:42 left.

With just over five minutes to play, Clark broke up the Bluejays scoring drought on a 10-yard run, with Maurice Moore scoring on Charleston's next drive to make up the final.

"I thought the kids did good job of coming out to play," Blackman said. "Then we had some things happen to us that kind of took our momentum away from us.

"As soon as we scored (in the first), they come back and scored and that can't happen. We have to try and hold them."

On the night, the Bluejays totaled 268 yards on offense with 239 yards coming on the ground on 52 carries. Leading the way was Clark with 101 yards and two scores on 11 carries. Jamaul Gray had 73 yards on 18 attempts, followed closely by Moore with 68 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries.

For the Tigers, who finished the game with 387 yards of total offense, Fonda carried the ball 19 times for a game-high 161 yards and two touchdowns. Second on the team was Monroe who had 89 yards and three touchdowns on seven attempts.

Though Caruthersville captures the district title with the win, the Tigers might be at a disadvantage going into their first playoff game.

After collecting its first sideline interference call of the game early on, Caruthersville picked up its second in the final minutes of the game to force the ejection of Morgan. Per Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) rules, Morgan could be forced off the sidelines for the Tigers' next game.

"It was just sideline interference," Morgan said. "They bumped in to one of our assistant coaches in the first half and the next one is an automatic ejection per the rules.

"Hopefully it will work out. We'll petition MHSAA and see what happens for next week."

Caruthersville (9-1) will host Herculaneum on Wednesday while Charleston (5-5) will travel to Crystal City.

Caruthersville 14 7 7 13 - 41

Charleston 7 0 0 16 - 23

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

CH -- Rontavious Clark 57 run (kick good), 4:40

CA -- Tyler Grissom 1 run (kick missed), 4:13

CA -- Elbie Fonda 14 run (run good), 1:14

Second Quarter

CA -- Darrell Monroe 12 run (kick good), 11:52

Third Quarter

CA -- Elbie Fonda 42 run (kick good), 11:44

Fourth Quarter

CA -- Darrell Monroe 20 run (kick missed), 11:48

CA -- Darrell Monroe 33 run (kick good), 9:42

CH -- Rontavious Clark 10 run (pass good), 5:13

CH -- Maurice Moore 6 run (pass good), 2:45

Team Statistics

CA CH

Total Yards 387 268

Rushes-yards 42-364 52-239

Passing yards 23 29

Comp.-Att.-Int. 5-14-2 2-4-0

Individual Statistics

Rushing -- Caruthersville -- Elbie Fonda 19-161, Tyler Grissom 8-68, Darrell Monroe 7-89, Colt Callens 1-6, Jeremy Grant 1-7, Chris Wade 1-12, Hunter Trevathan 3-19, Kendall Pittman 2-2. Charleston -- Maurice Moore 17-68, Jamaul Gray 18-73, Rontavious Clark 11-101, Mike Hull 2-(-17), Deiontrail Winston 4-14.

Passing -- Caruthersville -- Tyler Grissom 5-14-23. Charleston -- Mike Hull 2-4-29.

Receiving -- Caruthersville -- Elbie Fonda 2-(-6), Chris Wade 2-22, Phil Lancaster 1-7. Charleston -- Sumner Foster 2-29.