The McCallum Knights went south of the river and invaded Rebel country last Thursday night in the Knights and Rebels opening district football game, which is also known as the “Battle of the Bell”.
The Knights started the first quarter receiving the kick off and marching down the field, but the Rebels refused to surrender a Knights score. Travis took over on downs, but the Knight defense decided to put the first points on the board when Reggie Thompson tackled a Travis running back in their own end zone for a 2-point safety.
The Knights received the Rebel
free kick and with a good run back by Chris Bowser, they started with excellent
field position on the Rebel 35. The Knights didn’t take long in adding to the
score after quarterback Trey Henderson scampered for 23 yards; he then tossed a
touchdown pass to none other than Broderick Marshall, who scored his first
touchdown of the season. These points brought the score up to 9-0 McCallum.
After holding the Rebels and forcing them to punt, Andre Banks decided to add
some excitement to the game with a good hard 35-yard punt return. The return
set up another MAC touchdown when Henderson ran up the middle for 14 yards and the score. Paul Tearson added another PAT,
bringing the score up to 16-0 Knights.
Both McCallum and Travis traded a couple of turnovers, to start off the second period. Paul Tearson intercepted a Rebel pass to kill a Rebel drive, but the Knights were not able to capitalize on the turnover. The Knights were held to three and out by the Rebels, but on the punt, the Knights punt return was fierce and Malcolm Manson recovered the mishandled ball for the Knights. This recovery set up a 27-yard field goal by Tearson, which brought the halftime score to 19-0 in favor of the Knights.
The Knights continued in the second half with what they had started in the first, Great Defense and a Strong Offense! McCallum added to the point total again when Jerald Cooper (back from injury) ran for a TD and Tearson supplying the PAT. Tearson kicked another successful field goal, this one being from 38 yards, which brought the score to Knights 29, Travis 0. The McCallum coaches started substituting players during the fourth quarter, giving players needed playing time at different positions. Travis took advantage of the substituting and scored their only touchdown of the evening. All the Knights had to do for the rest of the quarter was run out the clock, assuring the Knight victory.
McCallum was assured of keeping the bell north another year with the victory score of 29-7. The players rang the bell for sometime after the game with each player getting their turn. This victory, as with every victory, was a total team effort, but if the spotlight was to shine on one player, the nominee for this week would be Broderick Marshall, not only for his strong defensive play, but also for his first touchdown on offense.
Keep it rolling, Knights!!!!! Next week’s game will be against Reagan on Thursday, October 13th, at 7 pm at Nelson Field.
McCallum Junior Varsity Cruises to Victory
McCallum’s Junior Varsity sailed into Noack field to do battle with the Travis Rebels J.V. last Friday night. The game started off with McCallum kicking off to Travis, but with Travis’ first possession, their quarterback was intercepted by McCallum’s own Jeremy Winley. McCallum’s offense took over and it wasn’t long before Kevin Lusson connected on a long pass to Van Franks. This was followed by Jarrod Houston scoring a MAC touchdown . With the score at 6-0 in favor of the Knights, the tone of the game was being set. After the kickoff, Travis again turned the ball over to the Knights on a fumble, and once again the Knights were able to increase the lead by scoring a touchdown on a 25-yard pass from Kevin Lusson to Vincent Ellis. Sam Richter added a point after touchdown bringing the score to 13-0 Knights.
With MAC cruising now in high gear, it seemed everything was going in favor of the Knights. During the second quarter the Knights blocked a Rebel punt, and scored on the ensuing series of plays. Lusson called his own number and scored on a quarterback keeper. The Knights continued the scoring blitz when Van Franks scored on a pass from Lusson. With the PAT, the scoreboard read Knights 22, Rebels 0.
McCallum started off the second half on the same scoring pace that they set in the first half. Kevin Lusson scored on another good run for a TD. Then shortly afterwards he threw a touchdown pass to Michael Martinez. Both scores added to the previous total now made the score MAC 39, Rebels 0. McCallum’s backups showed that they also deserve some notice, with good solid play coming from D’Anthony Williams, Kuro Tawil, Broderick Smith-Payne, Wilson Henderson and Alvin Brown, just to name a few. McCallum cruised to a decisive win over the Rebels. The final score was McCallum 39, Travis 0.
Next week is Reagan at Nelson Baseball Field on Friday night at 7pm.
Varsity and JV writeups submitted by JV parent Tom Davis
The Freshman
Knights won their game against Travis 42-7
Check back for game writeup.
