Whether by land or air, the Cloudland Highlanders could do little wrong on Friday night at Orr Field as the ‘Landers routed North Greene 59-6.
“The way we practiced this week I did not expect any letdown,” ‘Landers head coach Mike Lunsford said. “We practiced hard on Monday and ran the living daylights out of them. And Tuesday we went for two and a half hours. I approach each game that this is the game we are playing. Last week is gone and next game ain’t here yet.”
Junior tailback Jordan Coffey had 90 yards on four carries including a 44-yard touchdown. Junior quarterback Malachi Benfield completed 6-of-12 passes in the first half for 189 yards and three scores. Benfield connected with Tristan Lacy on a 65-yard scoring pass and had touchdown throws of 31 yards to Hunter Blair and 33 yards to Hayden Singleton in the first half.
“The line did an awesome job and gave me plenty of time to throw the ball,” Benfield said. “My wide receivers ran good routes. We have been looking to have more diverse offense. On the pass to Tristan, I had two options, and he was one of them.”
Senior Hayden Houston opened the scoring with a one-yard run to give the ‘Landers a 6-0 lead. Junior fullback Josh Blair scored on a pair of 17 yard runs in the first half, and sophomore Conner Birchfield scored on a four-yard run.
Cloudland (2-0) churned up 407 yards of total offense by the time the halftime break mercifully came. Conversely North Greene had 75 yards of total offense and scored on their next to last possession of the first half on a pair of trick plays by Bradley Frazier – a senior wide receiver – who completed a 33-yard pass to junior quarterback Briggs Kiker to set up first and goal for the Huskies at the Highlander five yard line.
On the trick play, Kiker pitched to Frazier on an end around and Frazier threw downfield where Kiker made the catch at the five. On the next play, Kiker ran in for the touchdown.
“We are young, and most of the time we had five freshmen on the field,” said Huskies head coach Scotty Verran. “We were nervous to start the game. We practiced all different formations, but when it came to the game, we forgot how to do it. The seniors need to step up and be better leaders.”
In the second half, North Greene ended a Cloudland drive with an interception in the end zone by Matt Priela, but North Greene was not able to cash in on the good fortune as a penalty push the Huskies back on a fourth down play.
In the fourth period, Birchfield connected with senior Kenny Wagner on a 33-yard pass play, and three plays later junior fullback Dillon Johnson scored on a 12-yard run to complete the scoring.