Kingston shuts out Comanche

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Week 10 showdown with Lindsay for District Title is up next

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  • Lori Robinson • The Madill Record Kingston junior running back AJ McKinney stretches his arms into the endzone for a touchdown in the Redskins 44-0 win over Comanche on Nov. 1.
    Lori Robinson • The Madill Record Kingston junior running back AJ McKinney stretches his arms into the endzone for a touchdown in the Redskins 44-0 win over Comanche on Nov. 1.
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Friday night was Senior Night in Kingston, and the home crowd had a chance to honor seniors from football, band and cross country. On a clear, cool night to start the month of November, the Comanche Indians came into town hoping to derail the Redskins’ quest for a district title. In the end, however, Kingston dominated the game, shutting out the Indians 44-0.

Comanche was forced to punt six plays into its first drive, as Kingston junior linebacker Bryant Watts dropped receiver Trevor Cusumano for a two yard loss to bring up fourth and sixteen. After the ensuing punt, Kingston’s offense went to work. Pounding runs by junior running back A.J. McKinney, senior running back Tanner Showalter, and junior quarterback Jase Hayes kept the Indians honest, setting up big gains on Hayes passes to senior Tyler Blanchard for 25 yards, and Showalter for 18 yards. McKinney finished the drive off with a one-yard touchdown run to put the Redskins up 7-0 early.

After Comanche went three and out on their next drive, Kingston’s offense flexed its muscle again. This time the Indians were gashed by runs from Hayes and sophomore running back Brandon Watson, before Showalter scored from 18 yards out to make it 13-0 Kingston.

After the teams had exchanged sputtering drives that ended up turning the ball over on downs, Comanche had another three and out and a punt in the second quarter. Kingston took over with just over 7 minutes left in the quarter and began to dismantle the Indians. McKinney scored again on a 22-yard pitch, and Hayes completed a pass to a wide-open Blanchard in the back of the end zone after fighting off Comanche pressure on the two-point conversion attempt to make it 21-0 with 3:19 left in the half.

Comanche came out aggressive, throwing three passes that gained seven yards. On fourth and three, Comanche initially lined up to punt, but called a timeout, and then lined up to go for it. Quarterback Kooper Doucet’s pass to receiver Mason Kulbeth fell incomplete, giving the Redskins the ball at the Comanche 26. Two plays later, McKinney took another pitch 20 yards for his third touchdown of the night to make it 28-0 with 79 seconds left in the half.

Comanche came out throwing again, trying to salvage something from the growing disaster. However, Doucet incurred an intentional grounding penalty that backed up the Indians to their own four, and then running back Lake Epperson was tackled in the end zone by senior lineman Caleb Yeager and junior linebacker Matthew Flesher for a safety, giving Kingston a 30-0 lead with 53 seconds left in the half.

Junior Jarron “Boomer” Morgan returned the ensuing free kick to the Comanche 36, and two plays later Showalter took a handoff from the shotgun for a 19-yard touchdown to make it 37-0 at half. Three plays into the second half Watson took a pitch 75 yards to make it 44-0, and Kingston’s reserves came in and held Comanche scoreless over the rest of the second half to finalize the Redskins’ victory.

Hayes recorded yet another stellar night under center, passing for 74 yards while completing 6 of his 8 attempts.

Watson led all rushers with 113 yards on just four carries and a touchdown, while McKinney had three touchdowns on his 13 carries for 93 yards, and Showalter had 82 yards on 7 carries and two scores.

Blanchard caught 2 passes for 27 yards and a two-point conversion to lead Kingston’s receivers.

Freshman Devin Tipton led the Redskins with 8 tackles and an interception.

Kingston Head Coach Tommy Bare was pleased with the team’s third consecutive shutout, citing another solid effort in all 3 phases”, as well as a district win where Aeveryone got to play” for the Redskins. He is looking forward to the Abig road game” next week at Lindsay.

The Redskins (8-1 overall, 6-0 district) take their spotless district record to Lindsay (8-1, 6-0) this week to face the Leopards in a de facto district championship game, with the winner taking the District 2A-8 crown and the loser finishing in second place.

The victory over Comanche (5-4, 3-3) assures Kingston of hosting at least one playoff game the following week.

The Davis Wolves (4-4, 4-2), back from the dead after a disappointing start to their 2019 season and shocking absence from the 2018 playoffs, have locked in third place in the district.

Meanwhile, Dickson (3-6, 3-3) hosts Comanche for a play-in game, with the winner taking fourth place and the last playoff slot, while the loser drops to fifth place and stays home.

Kingston kicks off at Lindsay at 7:30 p.m. Friday night.

Extra Points

Once again, Kingston’s defense came to play. The Redskins held the Indians to 64 total yards, with -2 net yards rushing on the night.

Comanche’s only threat to score came late in the fourth quarter during their sole trip to the Kingston red zone, and the Indians’ attempt at a field goal was wide left.

Kingston hasn’t surrendered a point the last three weeks. Playing this type of suffocating defense may well take the Redskins deep into the playoffs.

Kingston’s offense is also humming along as the playoffs approach.

Averaging over 275 yards per game on the ground, Kingston’s identity is clearly running the football. However, quarterback Jase Hayes has vastly matured as a passer as the season has progressed.

He is clearly reading defenses better, and he has put his early struggles with mistakes and turnovers behind him. After five interceptions in his first four games, Hayes hasn’t thrown a pick in his last five games.

With Hayes’ improvement, the Redskins have won those last 5 games by an average of over 50 points per contest.

Both offense and defense were on display in the late portion of the second quarter, when Kingston blew the game open.

Kingston scored 3 touchdowns and a safety in less than three minutes at the end of the half, and Comanche had no real chance of catching up at that point.

Scoring points in bunches like that will demoralize any team, and the Indians clearly had given up by the time they finally got to their locker room for halftime.

The upcoming game at Lindsay should be an excellent matchup.

Lindsay has blasted through the district just like Kingston has, although not dominating their games on the scoreboard to the same extent.

In their district games, the Leopards have averaged just over 31 points to the Redskins’ 41, while the Leopards have surrendered 4.29 points per game to Kingston’s 4.28.

After next Friday, we will know much more about both teams and their chances of a long playoff run.