NMCC downs Charleston 48-14 for first win of the season

sports@standard-democrat.com

NEW MADRID -- With the two teams coming in at 0-8, New Madrid County Central and Charleston both saw Friday's contest as a chance to turn around their season as they reach the midway point.

Thanks in part to a combined 317 yards rushing from junior Javarcus Word and senior Tyler Sprouse it was the Eagles to seized the opportunity, routing the Bluejays 48-14 on Homecoming night.

"It was more pressure to just play well and stay focused through the entire game," NMCC head coach John Dryden said of it being homecoming week. "That's the thing they did tonight. There was no let up.

"Even when we started putting the younger guys in, it just continued to move for us."

After a three-and-out on their first drive things started to click for the Eagles' offensively, scoring touchdowns on seven of their next eight drives, including four straight before the half.

Using Word at both running back and as quarterback in the Wildcat formation, the Eagles found a combination the Bluejays struggled all night to stop.

On their second drive of the night NMCC got a 17-yard run from word on a quarterback keeper to move to Charleston's eight yard line.

Another keeper from Word capped the 54-yard drive and put the Eagles on the board, 6-0, with 5:42 left in the first quarter.

"We put in a Wildcat formation last week to change things up," Word said. "I've played QB before (so I was pretty comfortable with it)."

A 17-yard touchdown pass from Sprouse to Jordan Lynn was followed by back-to-back rushing touchdowns from Word had NMCC up 27-0 with 6:14 left in the half.

While the Eagles rolled, the Bluejays' offense couldn't build any momentum.

In their first five series Charleston punted three times and turned the ball over on downs twice before a 51-yard run from Q'narious Anderson put them one the board, 27-6, one second before halftime.

Though Anderson's big run gave the Bluejays some hope heading into the locker room, an onside kick by the Eagles to start the second half resulted in another NMCC score to squash and Charleston momentum.

"We do some good things and we do some things to shoot us in the foot," Bluejays' head coach Brett Blackman said. "That's what we're trying to work on and talk about that when something bad happens we have to bounce back. Also, if something good happens and we do something positive we have to keep rolling.

"We just can't sustain anything right now."

Anderson's 51-yard scoring run was well over a third of Charleston's offense in the game as they finished with 132 total yards, including 105 on the ground.

NMCC finished the night with four plays of 48 yards or more. Their ground game carried the bulk of the load, gaining 365 yards on 38 carries to help the team finish with 495 total yards.

Word led the Eagles, rushing 15 times for 183 yards and three scores. He connected on two of his three passes at quarterback with 50 and 32-yard strikes.

"We had a goal set up on the board," Word said. "We had wrote it and left it up there all week, '5-0 starts today.' It started at the beginning of the week."

Sprouse rushed eight times for 134 yards and a pair of touchdowns while going 5 of 7 at quarterback for 48 yards and another touchdown.

"We played great," Sprouse said. "The offense was clicking."

For Charleston, Tennerious Ewing rushed 15 times for 53 yards and Anderson finished with 47 yard on three carries. As a team they finished 2 of 13 through the air for 27 yards.

Charleston 0 6 0 8 - 14

NMCC 13 14 21 0 - 48

First Quarter

N -- Javarcus Word 8 run (Chris Farr missed kick), 5:42

N -- Jordan Lynn 17 pass from Tyler Sprouse (Chris Farr kick good), 3:50

Second Quarter

N -- Javarcus Word 50 run (Chris Farr kick good), 10:09

N -- Javarcus Word 18 run (Chris Farr kick good), 6:14

C -- Q'narious Anderson 51 run (Lee Thomas Moody pass failed), 0:01

Third Quarter

N -- Tyler Sprouse 48 run (Chris Farr kick good), 11:11

N -- Tyler Sprouse 14 run (Chris Farr kick good), 9:24

N -- Brock Blakey 7 run (Chris Farr kick good), 2:46

Fourth Quarter

C -- Jeremy Tucker 3 run (Jeremy Tucker run good), 4:09

TEAM STATISTICS

C N

Total Yards 132 495

Rushes-yards 35-105 38-365

Passing yards 27 130

Comp.-Att.-Int. 2-13-0 7-10-0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing -- Charleston, Lee Thomas Moody 4-(-13), Tennerious Ewing 15-53, No. 42 3-1, Jeremy Tucker 6-21, James Wright 3-(-2), Q'Narious Anderson 3-47, Kavion Thompson 1-(-2). NMCC, Tyler Sprouse 8-134, Jarvarcus Word 15-183, JaMonte Sykes 4-29, Brock Blakey 6-5, Brian Sylvester 2-6, Mason Palmer 2-8, Tre' Ranson 1-0.

Passing -- Charleston, Tennerious Ewing 1-3-0 2, Lee Thomas Moody 1-10-0 25. NMCC, Tyler Sprouse 5-7-0 48, Javarcus Word 2-3, 82.

Receiving -- Charleston, No. 42 1-2, No. 18 1-25. NMCC, Rhiley Smith 3-21, Chris Farr 3-92, Jordan Lynn 1-17.