Red Devils throttle Harrisburg

Rusty turned out not to be the word to describe the Murphysboro High School football team last Friday night when it played its first game following a week-long layoff due to a teacher's strike.

The Red Devils scored on the first play from scrimmage and never looked back on their way to throttling Harrisburg, 49-7, in an SIRR Ohio Division clash.

"We had one practice and the kids ended up doing a great job,'' Murphysboro coach Gary Carter said. "They were really excited at the beginning of that practice to be back on the field. I'm just happy for them. They got to play the game that they love."

Murphysboro won the coin toss and elected to receive the ball, which ended up being at their own 30-yard line line.

Then, on the first play from scrimmage, Dezmond Clark took a pitch from quarterback Jamarr McZeke and raced 70 yards untouched for a touchdown at the 11:43 mark of the first quarter. Jake Attig's extra point kick gave the Red Devils the quick 7-0 advantage.

"We usually want to get the ball first so we can come out and get established offensively,'' Carter said. "I just wanted us to come out and get going."

Murphysboro (5-2, 3-1) let a golden opportunity slip away when it started its second possession at the Harrisburg five-yard line.

The Bulldogs defense stiffened and force the Red Devils to turn the ball over on down. But that would be just about the biggest highlight of the contest for the home team.

The Red Devils got back on the board on its third possession when Hunter Meade caught a 50-yard scoring pass from McZeke with 4:47 remaining in the first period.

Murphysboro would go up 22-0 a little over four minutes later when Zane Caraway rumbled into the end zone from 19 yards out.

Clark would find paydirt once again with 6:26 remaining in the first half when he raced into the end zone from six yards out. Attig was good once again on the extra point to make it 29-0.

Aiden McNitt got in on the action with 3:24 left in the second quarter when he scored on a 28-yard run to make it 36-0.

Murphysboro made sure there would be a running clock to start the second half when Meade hauled in a 17-yard TD pass from McZeke with 27 seconds ticks left on the clock in the first half. That score gave the Red Devils a commanding 42-0 advantage at the break.

Clark would score Murphysboro's final touchdown of the contest with 5:16 left in the third period when he found the end zone from eight yards out. Attig would kick the extra point to make it 49-0.

Harrisburg got on the board with 7:20 left in the game when Grayson Osman plunged into the end zone from a yard out. The extra point kick made it 49-7.

The touchdown by Harrisburg snapped Murphysboro's streak of 18 quarters without allowing a score.

But that didn't put a damper on another dominating defensive performance by the Red Devils, who allowed just 112 yards in the game, including 11 yards on the ground.

After qualifying for a playoff spot with the win, Murphysboro will now set its sights on Benton, which will invade Doc Bencini Field on Friday night with a perfect record of 7-0.

The winner of that contest will claim the SIRR Ohio Division title.