DEKALB —
National Federation High School rules, which are used by the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools, clearly show that on an onside kick “the kicking team may only recover and retain possession of the kicked ball, but not advance it.”
Here Friday night on “The Hill” at Kemper Academy, Calhoun Academy took a bouncing onside kick out of the air and all the way to the end zone, where the Cougars were awarded a touchdown.
Not that it mattered. It was just that kind of night for the homestanding Rams. Visiting Calhoun ran over, around and through Kemper, blitzing the Rams to the tune of 45-6 in a MAIS North Division 8-Man matchup of two previously undefeated teams.
“We knew they had some hosses, and they just took it to us tonight,” Kemper coach Pete McCleskey said after his Rams fell to 3-1 overall and 1-1 in division play.
Calhoun improved to 4-0 and 3-0.
Two years ago, when KA coasted to a perfect season and the school’s first state championship, the Rams had a pretty tough battle before pulling away late from a Calhoun team which was loaded with sophomores. Those sophomores, McCleskey said, have grown up now.
“This is a lot of that same bunch from two years ago except that they’re seniors now,” he said. “They’re tough, they’re experienced and their big fullback just gave us fits all night long.”
That fullback, Kyle Carter, scored four touchdowns — including three in the first half to help the Cougars build a 22-0 lead.
“You have to respect the speed of (Danny Joe Norman) and what he can do,” McCleskey said. “And I thought we did a pretty good of containing him for most of the night. But they just pounded us with (Carter) and they got after us on defense.”
The contest was scoreless until the 1-minute mark of the first quarter, when Carter raced up the gut from 4 yards out for a touchdown. A two-point conversion failed, but Calhoun led 6-0.
KA then drove into the red zone on its ensuing drive, but a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct call stalled the drive and it eventually ended in an interception by Norman.
Four plays later, Carter busted a 27-yarder to the Kemper 12 — and he raced in from there on the next play for his seacond touchdown. He also added the two-point conversion run, and Calhoun led 14-0 with 5:33 left before halftime.
The Rams again drove into Calhoun territory before turning the ball over on downs at the 31 with 1:45 remaining before the half — and the Cougars quickly went to work.
Three plays later, Hunter Harmon found Carter on a 37-yard touchdown pass, and Harmon’s two-point run made it 22-0.
Calhoun’s Cameron Bryant drilled a 37-yard field goal with 4:12 remaining in the third quarter to push his team’s lead to 25-0.
Kemper’s next drive was kept alive by a Dustin Davis-to-Cole Thomas pass completion that went for a first down on a fourth-and-10 play — and on the very next snap, Jason Craig scampered in from 16 yards out for a touchdown.
That pulled the Rams within 25-6 with 1:17 left in the third quarter. But just as quickly as the Rams earned those six points, the Cougars took them back and then some.
First, Norman got loose on a 53-yard touchdown run with 51 seconds left; then the Cougars plucked the onside kick out of the air and raced to the end zone and were awarded six more points. Norman ran in the two-point conversion — and a 25-6 game had turned into 39-6 in a matter of 41 seconds.
Calhoun’s final score came with 2:11 remaining, when Carter carried it in from 3 yards out.
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Calhoun runs wild against KA
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