Moore’s Arm, Jones’ Legs Lead Cambridge to Victory
Trending
CAMBRIDGE -- There was a lot to like from the Cambridge Bobcats as they defeated visiting Indian Creek 27-7 in the 2021 season-opener Friday night.
Junior quarterback Caden Moore threw for 254 yards and three touchdowns and sophomore running back Easton Jones ran for 99 yards and a score to pace the Bobcats' offense.
From the first series of the game, Moore looked improved to begin his second year as the team's starter, hitting Xander Caldwell for a 44-yard touchdown to take an early 6-0 lead.
"We expected him to step up," Cambridge coach Ray Leek said of Moore. "Last year was his first year ever starting at varsity quarterback so in year two, we expect huge gains from him."
Indian Creek showed some fight in the early going of the game. They responded with tough running by senior quarterback Eli Powell that resulted in a go-ahead touchdown and a 7-6 lead in the first quarter.
Those were the only points the visitors would score all game, however, as the Cambridge defense held their offense in check for much of the evening.
"They're looking to run, run, run. That's what we expected," Leek said. "You just can't fall asleep because the time you do is when they hit (Sam) Coleman over the top on you. Our kids did a nice job doing their job and staying sound assignment-wise."
Indian Creek ran the ball 46 times as a team for just 148 yards. Powell was 3-for-12 through the air for 19 yards and an interception.
"We had no identity," said Indian Creek coach Andrew Connor. "There was nothing really we could hang our hat on. We couldn't do anything to get going. We'd have a good defensive stand and then maybe not a good offensive series. Or a good offensive series and then we couldn't get going on defense."
After going down in the first quarter, Moore and the Bobcats came right back in the second to re-take the lead. This time, it was a 30-yard touchdown pass from Moore to sophomore receiver Devin Ogle to take a 13-7 lead.
The Bobcats looked to increase their lead even further a few minutes later when senior Caden Kenworth broke off a 70-yard touchdown run. Despite much celebration from the home crowd, however, the long run was called back because of a holding penalty.
Now faced with a third-and-26 on their own half of the field, Cambridge did not dwell on their missed opportunity and instead scored on an even longer touchdown on the very next play.
With a clean pocket, Moore hit junior Davion Jeffrey in stride for an 81-yard touchdown pass and a 20-7 lead at the half.
"It's good to see our kids are going to compete," Leek said. "They aren't going to hang their heads. You look at their body language and think 'how are they going to respond from that?' For them to come back and score the very next play, that's great to see."
In the second half, Cambridge switched to a ground-and-pound approach with Jones to drain the clock and keep the ball out of Indian Creek's hands. Jones carried the ball 11 times in the half for 95 yards, scoring a put-away touchdown in the process.
Meanwhile, Indian Creek's run-heavy offense backfired on itself as even when they were able to put together promising drives, too much time was being used up in the process.
"It seemed like we were close a couple of times and we just couldn't get the one play we needed to get us going," Connor said. "I thought after we scored maybe it would set things straight, but we just gave up too many big plays."
The Bobcats eventually ran all the time off the scoreboard and walked away with a 27-7 win in their season-opener.
Frontier 34, Bridgeport 20
Frontier shut out Bridgeport for the first three quarters of the game and built up a 34-0 lead heading into the fourth quarter. A 20-point onslaught with less than two minutes to play by the Bulldogs was too little too late, as Frontier held on to win 34-20. Bridgeport did not score its first points of the game until there was just 1:50 left to play when Michael Marshall scored from eight yards out. An 11-yard fumble recovery by Sean White and another scored by Marshall made the game look closer than it ultimatley was. JD Smith threw for 154 yards and three touchdowns for Frontier and Tanner Billes hauled in four catches for 127 yards and a score.
Toronto 33, Wellsville 20
Toronto got 141 rushing yards and two touchdowns from junior Zan Kinsey to defeat Wellsville 33-20 Friday night. Kinsey led a Red Knight ground game than ran for 241 total yards and found the endzone four times. Kinsey also added 12 yards and a third touchdown through the air, thrown by quarterback Aiden Mick. Dom Bouscher ran for 23 yards and a touchdown while Shane Keenan and Avery Wiegand added 22 and 18 yards, respectivley.
Southern Local 34, Edison 21
Southern Local ran for 293 yards and four touchdowns as a team as they beat Edison 34-21. For Edison, junior quarterback Gage Cline accnounted for all three of his team's touchdowns, throwing for 155 yards and three scores. Jacob Cusick caught four passes for 135 yards with two touchdowns to pace the Wildcats.