By Johnny Sanders, For The Tribune
MOODY — The Blue Devils welcomed the defending 5A Region 6 champions Alexandria to The Bill on Friday night in the first region game for both teams. Relying on a balanced offensive attack, the Blue Devils put up nearly 500 yards of total offense in a 42-27 win and improved to 3-0 on the season.
“Oh, this is a big one because it’s the next one. Obviously, Alexandria has a lot of tradition,” said Moody head coach Jake Ganus. “Our kids never quit, they played hard until the end.”
Moody jumped out of the gate early in this one with Blaine Burke starting things off with a 41-yard touchdown run at the 8:35 mark in the first quarter. The Blue Devils gave Alexandria a short field with an attempted on-side kick and the Valley Cubs ran the ball nine consecutive times, the last one a 1-yard run by Antonio Ross to tie it up at 7.
Moody closed out the quarter by answering with a touchdown of their own, a 1-yard run by Burke. The 2-point attempt put Moody up 15-7.
The Valley Cubs finally attempted a few passes on their next drive, with the last one picked off by Moody’s Zane Smith, setting the Blue Devils up at their own 7. The long field did not hinder the home team as they took it the distance, finishing the drive with Cole McCarty finding his favorite target of the night, Kolby Seymour, for a 29-yard touchdown to put Moody up 22-7. That is how the half ended.
Seymour finished the night with eight catches for 181 yards and a pair of scores.
“I attribute it to coaches and the team,” Seymour said. “We just kept playing until the whistle, every play.”
Coming out of the locker room, it looked like Moody was ready to pile it on as they held Alexandria and made them punt; however, the punt was muffed and Alexandria found new life at the Blue Devil 35. The next play, Ross got another touchdown and closed the gap to 22-14. On the next drive, McCarty, who finished the night 13 of 17 for 227 yards and two touchdowns, once again found Seymour, this time for a 59-yard touchdown with 7:56 to go in the third.
Preparation was the key to the victory, said senior quarterback McCarty.
“We treated this week like every other week,” McCarty said. “We took it seriously and worked every day.”
Asked about Seymour’s breakout performance, McCarty added that “Everyone on our team is a weapon, and they gave Kolby the opportunity and he took it tonight.”
But the Valley Cubs were not ready to go away, as they drove the ball down the field and saw Tyler Brown punch it in from four yards out, making the score 29-21 headed into the final stanza.
With less than a minute off of the clock in the fourth, Burke — who finished the night with 23 carries for 229 yards and three touchdowns, scored his final one from 39 yards out to put Moody up 36-21.
On the next drive, Alexandria threw an interception that Chase Jackson took 57 yards to the house to make it 42-21 with 9:08 to go in the game. Alexandria tacked on one more touchdown from Brown before the final bell rang, making it a final of 42-27 Moody.
“We aren’t satisfied with a 15-point win over Alexandria,” Ganus said. “We have got to fix the penalties. That’s on us. We can’t let that control us. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Moody welcomes Cleburne County to The Bill next week.