Caruthersville wakes up in 2H, rolls Charleston 34-6

Caruthersville High School senior offensive lineman Kenyon Bogan levels a Charleston High School defender during a game on Friday at Charleston.

Tom Davis ~ Tdavis@semoball.com

CHARLESTON – It took a while for the Caruthersville High School football squad to look like itself in Friday’s test at Charleston High School. However, it didn’t take junior runner Sammy Bryant much time to make an impact.

Bryant scored the first of his four touchdowns just 2:25 into the game and eventually the Class 2 No. 9-ranked Tigers (4-0) rolled to a comfortable 34-6 win.

“We had to find our swagger a little bit,” third-year Caruthersville coach Dom Guglielmo said following the win.

The first half appeared to be a Tiger cruise until it wasn’t.

Bryant put his team ahead 7-0 on an 18-yard touchdown run quickly, and after freshman running back Donzell Foster carried the ball to the three-yard line on Caruthersville’s second offensive series, Bryant closed the drive with a short burst into the end zone for a 13-0 lead.

“We came out a little too amped up,” Charleston coach Justin Hutchings said. “We shot ourselves in the foot with some mistakes that we really didn’t make the last two weeks.”

The Bluejays (2-2) entered Friday’s game just three points shy of being undefeated, and through the second quarter, that potential showed.

Bluejay junior running back Bernard Betts had a nice carry inside the five-yard line midway through the second quarter, which was followed by a short scoring pass from sophomore quarterback Chase Kearby to Betts to pull the hosts to within 13-6.

Caruthersville put together another nice drive, as senior quarterback Ryan Guest reached the one-yard line on a keeper. However, that was followed by Bryant fumbling the ball in the end zone, which was recovered by the Charleston defense.

In the closing minutes of the opening half, the Tigers reached near the goal line again courtesy of a 34-yard run by Bryant to the Charleston eight-yard line, but a penalty and then Guest being sacked on a keeper led to nothing as the horn sounded.

“We had that fumble,” Guglielmo said, “and we got stalled out there (on the final drive). We took that stuff as a motivational tactic at halftime.

“We asked the guys ‘How do you want to be remembered?’”

That strategy worked.

The Tiger defense swarmed the Bluejays from the opening seconds of the second half and forced a fumble on Charleston’s initial offensive play.

“We got those big stops in the red zone,” Hutchings said, “and that lit a fire in us. We came out and fumbled the ball, and we deflated.

“We just couldn’t recover from that.”

Tiger senior Jermonte Alexander took a handoff and sprinted to the 12-yard line before Bryant put his team ahead 20-6 on a 12-yard jaunt just two minutes into the half.

Charleston mishandled the ensuing kickoff and started its drive at its seven-yard line, but senior runner Kanarrius Clark had a nice run to give his team some breathing room.

That drive stalled and Foster had a 23-yard touchdown run at the 3:00 mark of the third quarter to put his team up 27-6.

The Tiger defense caught the spotlight late, as Caruthersville senior defensive lineman Antonio Riggens sacked Kearby on a third-and-long, which stalled another Bluejay drive. That play led to Bryant closing the scoring with another short run into the end zone early in the final period.

Alexander made his second interception of the night late in the game, as he soared over everyone and made a spectacular one-handed pick while turning his body around.

“When you have that kind of an athlete,” Guglielmo said, “and we are very blessed to have him, he is going to make plays like that.”

Both teams have a very challenging week ahead of them.

Charleston will host Class 2 No. 12-ranked Portageville (3-1) on Friday at 7 p.m.

Caruthersville will visit Class 2 No. 4-ranked Valle Catholic (3-1) on Friday at 7 p.m.