Kingston knocks out visiting Hugo in Week 1

Kingston opened its season this Friday with plenty of questions. After graduating a large senior class from the 2018 squad that narrowly lost to eventual state runner-up Beggs in the state quarterfinals, Kingston had a brand-new starting offensive backfield and a lot of new players moving into starting positions.

On a hot night with little breeze in Kingston, the Redskins answered many of those questions by drilling the visiting Hugo Buffaloes 44-21. The unranked Buffaloes came in looking for payback for their 22-0 home loss to the Redskins to open their 2018 season, their only shutout in a 5-6 campaign which ended with a 74-21 thrashing by Vian in the first round of the playoffs. While the unranked Buffaloes gave the 9^th -ranked Redskins all they could handle early, eventually Kingston pulled away for the victory.

Hugo’s first drive ended with a punt after an attempted fourth-down conversion attempt was derailed by an untimely false start. However, Hugo’s quarterback and punter William King pinned the Redskins deep on their own 9 yard line, and then the Buffaloes sacked junior quarterback Jase Hayes for a safety on the next play to take a 2-0 lead.

It was Kingston’s turn then, as junior Matthew Flesher pinned the Buffaloes on their own 21 on the ensuing free kick, and then the second play of that drive ended when Kingston junior Bryant Watts intercepted an errant King pass to give the Redskins the ball at Hugo’s 32. Four running plays later, junior running back AJ McKinney scooted into the end zone to put Kingston up 7-2.

Hugo followed up with a threeand-out, and Kingston went back to work. Starting at their own 35, the Redskins needed nine plays to reach paydirt again, as Hayes connected with senior running back Tanner Showalter for a ten-yard touchdown and a 13-2 lead.

The Buffaloes struck back on their next drive. Staring disaster in the face on 2^nd and 7 on their own 7, King completed a short pass to junior wide receiver Kris Akins in the right flat, and Akins turned that into a 65-yard completion to the Redskins’ 28. Two plays later it was sophomore wide receiver Tay-Shon Richardson who caught a 25-yard King pass to give Hugo its first offensive points, and narrow the lead to 13-8 at the close of the first quarter.

Richardson followed up that catch with an interception on Kingston’s next series, as Hayes, under pressure, threw off his back foot into coverage. Hugo’s drive, kept alive by a pass interference penalty that negated a Redskin interception on a fourth-down conversion, ended with senior running back Kameron Cook running 16 yards into the end zone to give the Buffaloes back the lead, 15-13.

After the teams traded punts, Kingston took over the game late in the second quarter, pounding the ball with McKinney and Showalter. Showalter punched it in from 17 yards out to give the Redskins back the lead 19-15.

After another Hugo punt, the Redskins went back to work on the ground. Starting at their own 39 with 2:09 left in the first half, Kingston ran the ball seven times in a drive that ended with a three-yard plunge by sophomore Brandon Watson to give the Redskins a 26-15 lead just before halftime.

That momentum continued into the third quarter, as Kingston junior Jarron “Boomer” Morgan returned the opening kick to the Redskin 40. Five running plays later - helped out by a Hugo facemask penalty - McKinney scored again on the ground, extending Kingston’s lead to 32-15.

Kingston’s next drive kept the pressure on, helped out by another Hugo personal foul that put the ball at the Hugo 5. Watson scored from there, and Kingston led 38-15.

Hugo’s next drive found some of the Buffaloes’ earlier success, as King found Akins down the right sideline for a 65-yard TD pass. But it was too little, too late as the Redskins followed up on their next drive with a 35-yard Flesher run up the middle early in the 4^th quarter to seal Kingston’s 44-21 victory to open the season.

Hayes opened his 2019 season completing 5 of his 9 passes for 71 yards, a touchdown and an interception, while chipping in 42 yards on the ground. Kingston dominated the game on the ground, rushing 48 times for 333 yards (an average of 6.94 yards per carry), led by McKinney whose 14 carries yielded 104 yards and two touchdowns. Junior Tyler Blanchard led Kingston’s receivers with three catches for 43 yards.

On defense, last years’ leading tackler Watts led the Redskins with 10 tackles and an interception. Senior Caleb Yeager had Kingston’s sole sack of the elusive King on the night.

Coach Tommy Bare called the effort a “solid home victory” where the team “did a good job taking care of the Kingston Redskins” in a game where no Redskins player was injured. Coach Bare noted that the Redskins need to “shore up the kicking game,” and that the defense needed to improve on limiting big plays.

Next up on the Redskins’ schedule is a home game against Atoka. While the Wampus Cats were winless last year, 2019’s version has teeth, coming off a 37-0 whipping of Coalgate in their own season opener. Kickoff at Harold “Bulldog” Henry Field is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

Extra Notes

Perhaps the biggest loss to graduation for the Redskins was longtime kicker Trey Keatts. For placekicking duties, the Redskins experimented with juniors Matthew Flesher and Tanner Carr with mixed results. Flesher hit two of his four attempts, and then Carr missed his sole attempt in relief. Even the successful kicks were near things. While it turned out to be unimportant in this game, not every game will feature a double-digit victory, and as Coach Bare noted, Kingston needs to improve its performance in this phase of the game.

The late-summer heat was oppressive for most of this game. Temperature at kickoff was a humid 93 degrees, and there was virtually no breeze. The heat seemed to affect Hugo more than the Redskins, as several Hugo players had to be taken out of the game with what appeared to be cramps, while not a single Kingston player came off due to injury. Looks like the Redskins have put in the work on their conditioning.

Kingston opened up with a spread formation, with Hayes in the shotgun for much of the first half. After Hayes’ interception, the Redskins played more out of an I-formation and relied heavily on their running game to take control of the game. Last year, a substantial part of Kingston’s offense featured a two tight end set, which was not in evidence Friday night.

Next week’s opponent Atoka scored more points in its opener

(37) than it in any game during the 2018 season. In fact, the 2018 Wampus Cats did not score 37 points total until their eighth game last season. Those Wampus Cats were shut out three times, including a 34-0 home loss to Kingston, which wasn’t as close a game as the score indicates. This version may bear more watching.