By Johnny Sanders, For The Tribune
ODENVILLE — Moody has claimed to own 411 all year and Friday night, they got a chance to prove it against St. Clair County. And prove it they did. The Blue Devils improved to 8-0 heading into a monster rivalry game against Leeds (also 8-0) this coming Friday night, for the 5A Region 6 lead.
The game did have a downside, however, as Jaxon Huckeba was lost for the season with a serious leg injury, and directly after the game, tempers flared among the coaching staffs, forcing local police to clear the field.
On the first drive, Moody turned the ball over on downs to give the Saints good field position at the 45-yard line. On the first play, Ryan Parker busted up the middle for 33 yards and St Clair was in business at the 12-yard line. However, on the next play, quarterback Nigel Dowdell fumbled the ball and Moody took over from there.
The Blue Devils mounted a long drive capped off by an 11-yard burst by Blaine Burke to put Moody on the board first, 7-0. After holding St. Clair to a punt, Moody scored on a Cole McCarty pass to Kolby Seymour from 25 yards out, ending the first frame with the Blue Devils up 14-0.
Moody’s 12th Man, who has followed them and packed out every away stadium this year, was amped up at this point and there was no stopping them in the second quarter. With 9:15 to go, McCarty found Burke for a seven-yard strike to extend the lead to 21-0. After another 3-and-out for St Clair, McCarty connected again with Seymour, this time from ten yards out.
Moody got the ball back after another Saints punt and McCarty hooked up with another target, Aidan Robinson, for a 26-yard touchdown, ending the half 35-0 Moody’s way.
A pair of injuries clouded the first half of play. First, Seymour left the game with an apparent ankle injury late in the second quarter. Later in the second quarter, Moody’s Huckeba went down with a very serious leg injury that required him to be carted off the field and taken to the hospital by ambulance.
St Clair got the ball to start the second half, but the results were still the same as Moody’s defense continued to dominate. Burke (16 carries for 126 yards, 1 rushing and 1 receiving touchdown) and McCarty (14 of 21 for 165 yards and 5 touchdowns) got one final drive in the game, finishing with McCarty finding Davion Dozier from 16 yards out.
St Clair County found success running the ball in the fourth quarter, getting long touchdown runs from Dowdell (23 yards) and Timothy Jones (54 yards) to make it a final of 42-14.
Then the fireworks would start at this point. After the post-game handshakes, some heated words were exchanged between coaches leading to the authorities getting involved, separating both teams and forcing Moody coaches and players to leave the field. One coach had to be held back by several of his fellow coaches.
When asked about the altercation, Moody Head Coach Jake Ganus said, “some frustration came out. It was more coaches than players. Our SROs did a great job getting us out of there. At the end of the day, we’re competitive; they’re competitive. They love their kids; we love our kids and sometimes aggression comes out.”
Asked about how his team has avoided letdowns to this point, Coach Ganus said, “We preach to the kids that it’s always about us. If we make it about the opponent or how big the game is, I think you’re beat before you get there. It’s trusting the process, film, meetings, ice baths… Our kids have really embraced that.”
Moody welcomes Leeds to The Bill next Friday night in a regional game of unbeaten teams.
“We’ll be ready. We’ve got a lot of work to do before we get there,” Coach Ganus said when asked about the upcoming game with Leeds, “we will just prepare for that game as best we can. They are a great team, obviously.”