The Ethel Tigers had little trouble with rival McAdams on Friday night.
The Tigers ran out to a 38-0 halftime lead and cruised to a 46-8 win over rival McAdams on Friday night.
Ethel improves to 2-1 on the season and will host East Rankin on Friday night.
Ethel coach Adam Smith said he thought his team played well, especially in the second quarter.
“I thought we played really well,” Smith said. “We started kind of sluggish but finally got rolling in the second quarter. We weren’t really blocking in the first quarter and our backs were doing the biggest load. We kind of jumped on them and they started blocking better and we started putting the ball down the field. I think we might have taken them for granted and thought we were going to roll over them. We decided to step up and get after it. We had almost 200 yards rushing in the second quarter.”
The Tigers got out to a quick start with two scores win the first quarter. Ethel got the first score when Marcus Jones scored on a 5-yard touchdown run. Anton Clark ran in the two-point conversion and Ethel led 8-0.
Still in the first quarter, Clark capped off another scoring drive with a 1-yard touchdown run. The try for two failed and Ethel led 14-0 at the end of the first.
The Tigers continued to pull away in the second quarter with three more scores.
The first was an 11-yard run by Clark and a two-point conversion by Bobo Hubbert to give the Tigers a 22-0 lead.
Clark then got loose on a 34-yard run and Jones hit Walter Wilkerson on a two-point conversion and the Tigers led 30-0.
Ethel’s last points of the first half came on a 31-yard pass from Jones to Noah Hill. Davion Hunt ran in the two-point conversion and Ethel led 38-0 at the half.
“We were really proud of the defense,” Smith said. “They stayed true to what they are supposed to do. I thought they really stifled McAdams. We got good play from the defensive ends who contained their quarterback for the most part. Our defensive ends and linebackers did a good job. We were able to keep them from moving the ball down the field.”
Ethel added one last score in the second half when Jones scored on a 39-yard interception return. Hunter Corley ran in the two-point conversion and Ethel led 46-0.
Ethel had 325 yards rushing and 34 passing for 359 yards of total offense
Clark led the Tigers with 109 yards rushing on 10 carries while Jones had 103 yards rushing on nine carries.
This week’s game
The Tigers will host East Rankin Academy this week in a public vs. private school matchup.
East Rankin is 1-3 on the field this year. After opening with a 28-22 win over Oak Hill, East Rankin lost 28-24 to Columbia, 50-6 to Madison St. Joseph and 44-16 to Pillow.
“They are better than they were this year,” Smith said. “They are more of a spread team this year.T hey have some really good-looking kids. It seems like they don’t have quite enough athletes.”
Lat year, Ethel beat East Rankin 43-0.
