Morgan County Football Teams Shut Out!
By Terry Futrell – October 6, 2018
October 5 was not a good night for Morgan County football. Who could have predicted that all four Morgan County teams would go scoreless on the same night? Who could have predicted that the four Morgan County teams would be defeated by a combined score of 210-0? These things only happen in one’s worst nightmare, but obviously nightmares sometimes become reality. So it was that Coalfield, Oakdale, Sunbright, and Wartburg all went scoreless on the same night. A search of the records back to the 2001 season reveals this never happened during that time frame and perhaps never happened in all of history.
Coalfield played Greenback on their home turf, which is always challenging. But, what was expected to be a challenge turned into a total rout of the Yellow Jackets. A few key game statistics tell the story. Coalfield achieved only three first downs in the entire game, one from rushing, one from passing, and one from a penalty. In stark contrast, Greenback racked up 27 first downs against the Jackets defense, which is understandable considering they were on the field almost the entire game. Coalfield was limited to 92 yards total offense, including nine yards passing and 82 yards rushing. Greenback racked up 485 yards total offense, equally balanced with 244 yards passing and 241 yards rushing. Greenback led 28-0 at the half, 35-0 after three quarters, and scored two more times in the fourth quarter for a final score of 49-0.
The story was even worse over in Oliver Springs as the Bobcats built up a 42-0 lead over the visiting Sunbright Tigers in the first quarter and went on to win by 55-0. The Tigers could muster only 112 yards total offense – 29 rushes for 91 yards and 3 of 15 passing for 21 yards with 3 interceptions. The Bobcats’ offense put up huge numbers – 386 yards total offense. The Bobcats rushed 21 times for 338 yards and completed 4 of 6 passes for 48 yards. Oliver Springs had only 10 first downs compared to Sunbright’s six, but these figures are misleading considering the fact that the Bobcats had four scoring plays of 50 yards or more. These included rushing touchdowns of 70, 76, and 82 yards, and a 57-yard interception return for a touchdown.
Wartburg Central traveled to Jamestown where they took on the Class 3A York Institute Dragons in a non-conference game. The Dragons had their way with the Bulldogs, overpowering Wartburg with a rushing offense that was characterized by long runs protected by a host of lead blockers. Wartburg’s offensive line simply could not protect their quarterback against the Dragon defense, and the Bulldogs were unable to mount a credible offensive attack. York sent the Bulldogs home with a 58-0 spanking.
Oakdale was the only Morgan County team to face a visiting opponent – Lookout Valley. The Eagles began the game with only 14 healthy players on the roster, and this diminished to eleven by the end of the game. Lookout Valley brought what appeared to be an army to Hollis Eble Field. Clearly, Oakdale was outmanned and undersized. Yet the Eagles played hard from beginning to end and have the distinction of being defeated by the smallest margin of any Morgan County team on this fateful night, 48-0. The Eagles offense was severely throttled by the Lookout Valley defense, completing 11 of 18 passes for 69 yards with one interception and rushing 12 times for three yards net. Lookout Valley completed 3 of 4 passes for 26 yards and rushed 31 times for 387 yards. Lookout Valley led 20-0 at the end of the first quarter, 35-0 at the half, and 48-0 at the end of the game.
Perhaps we will all wake up tomorrow and realize this was just a bad dream…