Picking up their first win over the Kosciusko Whippets since the 2012 season by a score of 31-14 on Friday night, the Caledonia Confederates rebounded nicely from a tough 42-35 loss last week to the Louisville Wildcats.
Playing on the road in Region 4-4A play for the second week in a row, the Confederates, 4-4 overall and 1-3 in region play, wasted little time getting on the board after the Whippets, 1-7 overall and 0-3 in region play, turned the ball over on downs at the Caledonia 25-yard line with 9:12 left in the first quarter. The first Kosciusko play from scrimmage was a 51-yard run by freshman running back Bobo Miller who shot the gap through the heart of the Confederate defense and raced nearly untouched to the Caledonia 26-yard line. Four plays and only one yard later, the Confederate offense took possession and went to work.
With 4:04 left in the first quarter, Confederate senior quarterback Spencer Unruh, who was 15-of-24 for 184 yards and three touchdowns, found senior running back Zion Ford with a three-yard touchdown strike, Caleb Comer kick, giving Caledonia lead at 7-0. After forcing the Whippets to turn the ball over on downs once again near their on 48-yard line, Caledonia put together a five-play, 48-yard drive that ended when Ford, who finished the night with 151 yards rushing on 27 carries and a touchdown while catching 10 passes for another 97 yards and two more touchdowns, found the end zone after a 15-yard jaunt, kick good, increasing the Confederate lead to 14-0 with 5:47 remaining in the second quarter.
The Whippets closed the gap to just a touchdown at 14-7 after senior running back Jerry Kern bulled his way in from three yards out with 2:08 left in the half. Not satisfied with the 14-7 lead to go into halftime, Caledonia marched down the field to the Whippet 18-yard line where Comer drilled a 35-yard field goal with just seven seconds remaining before the intermission, increasing its lead to 17-7 over the Whippets.
After deferring until the second half, Caledonia was set to receive the opening kick of the third quarter, but Kosciusko had a different idea. The Whippets executed the perfect onside kick and recovered the football on the Caledonia 41-yard line. Whippet sophomore running back Kenwon Riley found the end zone nearly four minutes later on a five-yard run to cut the Confederate lead to just three points at 17-14.
Answering the Kosciusko score once more, Caledonia again called on Ford who took the Unruh handoff 12 yards to pay dirt for his third touchdown of the night, increasing the lead to 24-14 with 4:10 left on the third quarter clock.
The Confederates added the final score of the night with 8:47 remaining in the contest when Unruh found senior receiver Jamel Thomas, who had four catches for 72 yards and a touchdown, with a 21-yard touchdown pass, pushing the final score to 31-14, giving the Confederates their first region win in three tries.
“We are ecstatic to come out of here with a win,” said Caledonia head coach Andy Crotwell. “I thought it was a great team effort and defensively I thought our defensive line, particularly our defensive ends and linebackers as well, played good football. I think that our offensive line did a great job controlling the line of scrimmage and the wide receivers did a good job of running routes, catching balls and blocking.”
The Whippets (1-7, 0-3) travel to Leake Central (3-6, 0-3) Friday night looking for their first Region 4-4A win at 7 p.m.
