MAYFLOWER 50, CENTRAL ARK. CHRISTIAN 15
Mayflower scored on its first offensive play Tuesday afternoon, and the Eagles never looked back.
Twins Deon and Keon Simmons combined to rush for 225 yards and four touchdowns as the Eagles cruised to a 50-15 season-opening victory over Central Arkansas Christian at War Memorial Stadium.
"They're thunder and lightning," Mayflower Coach Todd Langrell said of the Simmons brothers. "They show ability out here on the field, but you don't see what I see behind the scenes. They are the first to get to the fieldhouse and the last to leave. If anybody is having a bad day, they always pick them up. They are the ultimate team players."
Deon did most of the Eagles' heavy lifting. He rushed 16 times for 152 yards, scoring on runs of 16, 47 and 1 yards. He also scored a two-point conversion. Keon ran 3 times for 73 yards, scoring on a 71-yard run that put the Eagles on top 29-7 with 4:28 left in the first half.
Oddly enough, neither twin had anything to do with Mayflower's first touchdown.
After CAC went three-and-out on its opening drive, Mayflower took over at the 50. Quarterback Sean Harris, a senior who was 10 of 15 for 127 yards, hit classmate Turner Hudson in the middle of the field. Hudson outraced the Mustangs' defenders to the end zone, and the Eagles were on top for good.
"We knew Mayflower had a lot of big-play potential," CAC Coach Tommy Shoemaker said. "We knew we didn't need to give up big plays, and on the first play they caught us looking on a tackle-eligible [play]. Other than that, we just didn't do a very good job of playing sound defense."
"We knew what they did defensively, and we started out with that tackle-eligible play," Langrell said. "It just happened to go our way. Sometimes a squirrel finds a nut."
Mayflower found the end zone on its first four possessions, outgained the Mustangs 436-234 and did not have to punt in winning its first season opener since 2014.
"I don't want to appear too happy about this, but we watched a lot of film and we were prepared," Deon Simmons said. "We worked hard in practice and came out here and did our thing."
Mayflower scored on the second play of the second half. Harris hit senior Meshach Cole for a 28-yard touchdown with 11:14 left in the third quarter. After CAC fumbled on its next possession, Deon Simmons capped an eight-play, 35-yard drive with his third touchdown, a 1-yard run with 8:20 left in the third quarter. It was his final carry of the contest.
Mayflower's final score came on TayShun Mattison's 9-yard run with 44 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
Junior Tyler Maxwell led the Eagles defense with 12 tackles, 2 sacks for a combined 22 yards in losses, and a forced fumble.
CAC's touchdowns came on a 25-yard pass from Blake Smith to Eli Jenkins with 5:36 left before halftime and on a 51-yard run by Samuel Pitre with 1:58 remaining in the game. Jason Edwards and Seth Crews intercepted passes for CAC.
"We've got some growing pains on both sides [of the ball]," said Shoemaker, whose team changed from running the Spread to the Wing-T offense. "We've got a lot of young guys, a lot of inexperienced guys. We had 10 guys making their first start on defense tonight and probably the same on offense. We'll get better, but we've got to have some patience."
Sports on 08/30/2017