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NMCC fumbles away chances against Green Wave
NEW MADRID -- If the experience from all of their summer practices, camps and jamboree's were any indication, ball security wasn't a problem area for New Madrid County Central.
That changed Friday night.
The Eagles lost four fumbles and had five giveaways in their season opener against Malden during a 12-0 loss at New Madrid County Central High School.
"Coming in from camp, through three weeks of practice and even our jamboree we had two fumbles with our guys who we knew would be our starters," NMCC head coach Arlen Pixley said. "It wasn't for a lack of effort, but we made some mental mistakes."
Malden made the most of those mistakes, especially early in the game. The Green Wave scored both of their touchdowns in the first quarter.
"The first half we didn't play so good," NMCC junior Mikeal Walker said. "We were hitting '30' too high. We needed to hit him lower."
The '30' Walker was referring to was Malden's No. 30, Nick Thompson.
Thompson, a 5-11, 218-pound bowling ball rumbled through the middle of NMCC's defense dragging defenders behind him as he ate up yards. He was the focal point in Malden's early attack, banging around for both of their scores in the first nine minutes of the game.
"They felt good," Thompson said about scoring two touchdowns. "To go in there and truck somebody and to knock them flat out -- it felt real good."
Thompson ended up with 15 touches for 70 yards before cramps and overall tiredness got to the sophomore in the second half.
"He's tough to bring down," Pixley said about Thompson. "We're not the biggest team out there right now. We didn't do some things early, as far as wrapping guys up and taking them on. He made us miss some tackles. He drug four or five of our guys seven yards one time."
NMCC, who finished 4-7 last season, eclipsed Malden's rushing totals with 143 yards, but turnovers kept them from scoring.
Their best chance to score came along in the fourth quarter. The ball was on the 4-yard line with three more chances to punch one in. Running back Harvey Brown received the handoff and was met by a Malden player in the backfield. The ball went flying upfield in the opposite direction and was eventually recovered by Malden at the 20-yard line.
"We were really worried about their speed," Malden head coach Joel Wyatt said. "We had a lot of bend but don't break situations and created a few turnovers."
NMCC's first play from scrimmage was a fumble.
Quarterback Austin Lynn took the snap and headed towards the middle of field when Malden's Jeremy Jones hit him from behind popping the ball loose in the process.
The Green Wave recovered the ball on the 40-yard line. Four plays and a minute and 13 seconds later, Malden was up 6-0.
"Everybody wasn't going as hard as we were supposed to be going," Walker said. "When we started going hard, we started making big plays."
After Thompson scored his second touchdown of the night with three minutes left in the first quarter from the 1-yard line, the momentum was at a standstill for each team.
NMCC had trouble capitalizing on their advantage of speed, which negated the use of speedsters such as Willie Jimmerson, Malik Stevenson and Mikeal Walker from the backfield.
"It wasn't that we had to make any adjustments, we just had to get the our right hat on their right hat," Pixley said about run-blocking. "In the second half we were able to move the ball a little more effectively. If we get that in the first half and don't get 12 points on us right away, could have been a different ball game."
Walker was the Eagles' leading rusher with 81 yards, most of which came from a 52-yard scamper in the third quarter. Stevenson ended up with one yard on nine touches and Jimmerson had negative five yards on five carries.
Quarterback Austin Lynn ran for 55 yards on 11 tries. He routinely made things happen on the ground when his pass protection broke down forcing the senior to make a play. Lynn did, however, have three fumbles in the game.
This was NMCC's second-straight loss to Malden after dropping their season opener to the Green Wave last year, 32-6. Before then, the two had not played each other since the 1999 season which was won by the Eagles 54-13.
| Malden | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | 12 |
| NMCC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0 |
First Quarter
M -- Nick Thompson 3 run, 10:47
M -- Thompson 1 run, 3:00
| M | N | |
| First downs | 8 | 8 |
| Total yards | 153 | 145 |
| Rushes-yards | 39-135 | 35-143 |
| Passing yards | 18 | 2 |
| Comp.-Att.-Int. | 3-5-0 | 2-8-1 |
| Fumbles-lost | 3-2 | 5-4 |
| Penalties-yards | 5-30 | 9-51 |
| Turnovers | 2 | 5 |
Rushing -- Malden, Nick Thompson 15-70, Dremond Robinson 20-80, Gunner Jones 1-(-5), Chapin Riley 1-(-5), Jeremy Jones 1-(-2), Awsten Powell 1-(-3). NMCC, Willie Jimmerson 5-(-5), Austin Lynn 11-55, Malik Stevenson 9-1, Mikeal Walker 6-81, TJ Clark 1-4, Harvey Brown 1-11, Drew Palmer 2-(-4).
Passing -- Malden, Chapin Riley 3-5-0 18. NMCC, Austin Lynn 1-4-0 5, Drew Palmer 1-4-1 -3.
Receiving -- Malden, Dremond Robinson 1-10, Shaeen Perkins 1-3, Gunner Jones 1-5. NMCC, Vontre Jones 1-5, Malik Stevenson 1-(-3).