By Michael Crawford

CAYUGA — The headlines read in the Thursday edition of the Corsicana Daily Sun in big bold letters “Clash of Titans” followed by the leadoff of the preview story “Kerens gears up for explosive Shead, Cayuga."

The problem is Shead did not hurt the Bobcats in their 32-26 loss Friday night — it was Wildcats quarterback Malcolme Kennedy.

Shead is supposed to be one of the most explosive, dominating, and elusive running backs in Texas high school football this season. But the Bobcats defense shut him down as they held him to only 59 yards rushing on 16 carries and no touchdowns. Shead could only muster seven yards on nine touches in the second half.

“Traylon got banged up early,” Cayuga head coach Tommy Allison said. “Their (Kerens) game plan was to stop Shead and we could never get him loose tonight.”

The problem for Kerens (2-1) was that the Wildcats had plenty of teammates to pick up the slack for Sheads’ disappointing outing. Quarterback Malcolme Kennedy (committed to Texas A&M) scorched the Bobcats with 111 yards on 11 carries and 272 yards passing. He also had an interception.

“Malcolme is a tremendous football player,” Allison said. “But he is and even better young man and a great person … he is a real good role model in athletics, school, and in life in general.”

Cayuga (3-0) had three receivers active in their victory. Billy Duncan (committed to SFA) caught nine passes for 169 yards and a touchdown. Duncan also hit Caleb Summerville with 46 seconds left in the first quarter on a 53-yard touchdown pass on a trick play to get the Wildcats scoring started for the night. Summerville ended the night with two catches for 108 yards and Sha’keal Jenkins picked up three grabs for 57.

“We couldn’t get the running game going so we just had to take what the Kerens defense was giving us,” Allsion said. “And it worked out well for us tonight … it was a great high school football game and it was fun to be a part of it.”

The Bobcats were in charge of the game with a 26-18 lead at the 3:23 mark of the third quarter when Pat Faulk hit pay dirt on a 27-yard scamper. Faulk had 177 yards rushing to go with 139 yards passing on the evening.

“We didn’t expect them (Cayuga) to use the passing game like they did tonight,” Kerens head coach Russell Anderson said. “I don’t think we have ever gave up 325 yards passing since I have been in Kerens … and we will start working on our secondary this week.”

Junior running back Micheal Jordan scored two touchdowns for the Bobcats. But he only managed to rush for 24 yards on nine carries. Jordan also had a pass reception for 42 yards. While Ryan Leerskov had four grabs for 46, Billy Littleton four for 25 and Trey Lindsey contributed two catches for 26 yards.

“I told the guys after the game I was proud of how they played,” Anderson said. “It ended up perfect because it simulated playing in a hostile environment (Cayuga fans and some untimely holding calls in the red zone to halt two Kerens drives) so this should help us get ready for a tough district.”





Cayuga 32, Kerens 26

Cayuga 6 6 14 6 — 32

Kerens 12 0 14 0 — 26



First Quarter

K --- Micheal Jordan 42 pass from Pat Faulk (Carlos Solis kick failed), 10:04

K --- Jordan 18 run (Faulk pass failed), 1:50

C --- Caleb Summerville 53 pass from Billy Duncan (Malcolme Kennedy kick failed), :46

Second Quarter

C — Kennedy 4 run (kick failed), 6:12

Third Quarter

K — Faulk 4 run (Solis kick), 7:16

C --- Sha’keal Jenkins 45 pass from Kennedy (Traylon Shead run failed), 4:34

K --- Faulk 27 run (Solis kick), 3:23

C --- Duncan 43 pass from Kennedy (Jenkins pass from Kennedy good), 1:21

Fourth Quarter

C — Summerville 55 pass from Kennedy (Shead run failed), 6:28



C K

First downs 14 12

Rush-yards 29-185 37-201

Passing yards 325 139

C-A-I 14-18-0 11-15-2

Fumbles-lost3-0 2-0

Punts-avg. 1-39 0-0

Penalties-yards15-72 5-35



Individual

Rushing — C: Traylon Shead 16-59, Malcolme Kennedy 11-111, Billy Duncan 2-15 K: Patrick Faulk 28-177, Micheal Jordan 9-24.

Passing — C: Malcolme Kennedy 13-17-0-272, Billy Duncan 1-1-0-53. K: Patrick Faulk 11-15-2-139.

Receiving — C: Caleb Summerville 2-108, Billy Duncan 9-169, Sha’keal Jenkins 3-57. K: Ryan Leerskov 4-46, Billy Littleton 4-25, Trey Lindsey 2-26, Micheal Jordan 1-42.