Kennett host Malden and Hayti in 7v7 scrimmage

Malden and Kennett football players battle in the air for a pass in 7v7 scrimmage.

Photo by Kaelin Triggs, Delta Dunklin Democrat.

KENNETT, Mo. - Kennett High School hosted Malden and Hayti in a 7v7 round-robin football tournament on Thursday, July 25.

Each team had a chance to show off what they worked on during the summer months and showcase their skills prior to the Missouri athletic dead period. The dead period, which is the first full week of August, is where coaches are not allowed to have any practices or schedule workouts during a nine-day period during the summer. This allows student athletes to have a break between their summer training and the first official practice on Aug. 12.

For all three teams, this was a test. The coaches were looking at what their players have learned and what things still need to be worked on with a little over a month away from competition.

Malden’s head coach Treston Pulley walked away from both games satisfied with the results.

“I’ll take it as a win,” Pulley said. “We went out here, we competed and we were 2 and 0 on the day. It’s a good feeling and it’s a really good feeling for our kids.”

Pulley is taking over a Green Wave program which hasn’t won a game in almost three years.

The team had an 0-9 record in 2023 and 2022. The last Malden won a football game was against East Prairie in October of 2021.

For Pulley and his players, these victory’s were more than just a scrimmage win. These wins marked a turning point for Malden football.

Malden receiver Dyentez Dobbins looks to quaterback while running his route in 7v7 scrimmage against Malden. Photo by Kaelin Triggs, Delta Dunklin Democrat.

“This is the most wins they’ve had in three years,” Pulley said. “We’re leaving on Cloud-9 right now.”

Head football coach Andrew Webster from Kennett High School is looking forward to the progress and development of his younger roster.

Despite their performance against Hayti, Webster said the team’s mistakes were manageable. His focus for these summer competitions is to find those weak areas before the season starts at the end of August.

“I think we’re gonna be okay,” Webster said. “We just gotta get back to work and fix the little stuff.”

With one more week of contact before MSHSAA’s dead period, Webster wants to continue getting his players stronger in the weight room and faster. He said this will help them be more aggressive on the field.

He also wants players to get more individual skill work with their position coaches to help fix small mishaps on the field.

“We’ll fix little stuff,like running routes better, and get more reps and individual time,” Webster said. “We can work on the little bitty aspects and it will go into the bigger stuff that everybody sees on the field. I’m looking forward to getting practice time and being able to do that. I think we’ll really be able to grow from there.”

According to Webster, Kennett has a fairly young roster, but he is relying on some key returners to help lead the Indians this season.

He said seniors such as Kevin Thompson and Caleb Duncan are expected to step up this year after winning postseason accolades last year. He also said Landon Decker would be a tremendous help as a returning senior

Kennett's quaterback Ty Jones receives a snap from Austin Gattis in 7v7 scrimmage against Malden. Photo by Kaelin Triggs, Delta Dunklin Democrat.

“I think our older guys are gonna do good,” Webster said. “They’re all real good players and good leaders. We got some good kids who are older and have played, there’s just not a huge number of them. I’m looking forward to seeing how they all mesh together, how good they can get and how far we can take it.”

According to Webster, the team has a pretty challenge schedule in the fall. The Indians first game is at Portageville who were quaterfinalist at Missouri Class 1 State Championships last fall. Portageville finished with a 10-2 record.

Webster is hoping his younger players are ready for the challenge.

“I just want to see how quickly we can get these young guys ready to help us on Fridays,’ Webster said. “I’m looking forward to the whole process of it all. We got a good test today, we’re gonna get tested right out of the jump and it’s gonna stay that way for the season.”

Malden will have another three team round robin play on Tuesday, July 30 before dead week. They will play at Chaffee High School against Chaffe and Liberty.

For Pulley and his Green Wave squad, he is hoping to continue the momentum from these scrimmages against Kennett and Hayti. His goal is to turn his team of individual players into a single unit and continue having fun.

“Everybody understood their job,” Pulley said. “We were able to get takeaways and score everytime and it was just a fun morning for our kids. They get to leave with victories and that’s the biggest thing for us.”

Malden’s first matchup will be against Dexter on Aug. 30. Dexter finished 6-3 last season.

“I just want to be all in together after dead week,” Pulley said. “I want us to find an identity of what we’re trying to do offensively and defensively. I think we can find ourselves in that two week preparation getting ready for our first game.”

*Two corrections made to this story:

Portageville were quaterfinalist, original text stated they made it to the sweet 16.

Malden football were 2 and 0 on the day, original text stated they were 0 and 2.