BY BRITTNI MCCOY
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
INEZ — Martin County held Knott County Central scoreless in the Harvest Bowl played Friday night at The Rock. The Cards shut out the Patriots with a 41-0 score and improved to 2-2 on the season.
Martin County saw six players make it into the end zone Friday.
Dawson Mills led the team in rushing. He picked up 107 yards on only four attempts. One of those four was a touchdown for the Cards.
The offensive player of the game was Brock Messer. He also had four carries and a touchdown on 98 yards.
Messer pulled in a catch for 9 yards. He got in on some point-after action and kicked 2 through the goalposts. On the defensive side he had two tackles for the game.
Martin County’s defensive player of the game was Caleb Costa. He had 11 tackles on the evening, one for a loss.
Costa had a pick 6 against the Patriot offense.
Ja’quan Rufus rushed for a 56-yard touchdown, his first of the season. Rufus brought down Knott County 12 times and once for a loss.
Madden Miller carried for 33 yards on seven attempts. Miller hit the paydirt for a TD. On the other side of the ball, he led the team with 15 tackles.
Christopher Phillips hit the ground running and scored a TD. He had 27 yards on two carries.
Joey Robinson reeled in a catch for a 25-yard TD.
Quarterback Weston Jude went 4-5 with 66 yards passing.
Damien Cheek caught a 30-yarder from Jude on a Cardinal drive. Cheek intercepted a Knott County pass on the defensive end.
Bryston Wells got through and tackled the Patriots seven times. Corey Parsley and Zachary Hamilton had six tackles each.
The Cardinal defense had an astounding 82 tackles and 10 for a loss. They held Knott County to 101 yards for the game.
The Cards finished the game with 363 yards on the ground and 66 in the air.
Martin County coach Josh Muncy was glad to see his team’s performance.
“I think we are making strides and improving each week,” Muncy said. “We still are not where we would like to be and still making some mistakes. We had six different guys score touchdowns Friday night. That is very promising for our offense.
“Defensively, we gave up a couple of big plays, but our guys played hard and ended up holding them to zero points. We can’t ask for much more than that. I’m very proud of the team and can’t wait to get district play started,” concluded Muncy.
This is a bye week for the Cards. They will travel to Bath County for their next game Sept. 23. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m.
