Coalfield Steamrolls Sunbright 68-8
By Terry Futrell
The Coalfield Yellow Jackets celebrated Homecoming in a big way by steamrolling the Sunbright Tigers 68-8 on Rochelle field Friday evening. It was a game in which the only close statistic was the number of plays executed – Sunbright ran 43 plays to Coalfield’s 41. This stat merely reflects the scoring efficiency of the Coalfield offense. Coalfield’s first five scoring drives averaged 40 yards and averaged only 2.6 plays each.
Coalfield clearly dominated both offensively and defensively. The Jackets racked up 443 yards offense (10.8 yards per play) while the tough Jacket defense held Sunbright to only 62 yards (1.4 yards per play).
The one-sided game gave Coalfield Coach Benson Napier an opportunity to give his bench valuable game experience as he substituted freely almost from the start. Whereas Sunbright used five ball carriers in the game, Coalfield used 15 different ball carriers. Landon Lowe led the Jackets with four carries for 68 yards and one touchdown. Finn Rodgers led the Tigers with seven carries for 31 yards.
Coalfield quarterbacks Cole Hines and Luke Treece combined for 4 of 7 passing for 101 yards – it was clearly a running game for the Jackets. Sunbright’s attack was more balanced with Finn Rodgers and Dale Hutson combining for 7 of 17 passing for 37 yards.
Defensively, 25 Jackets recorded tackles in the game led by Caleb Corbin with six tackles. For Sunbright, 12 players recorded tackles led by Isaac Jones with eight.
Coalfield took the opening kickoff on their own 28-yard line and scored four plays later. Sunbright took the ensuing kickoff on their own 3-yard line and could only advance the ball six yards. Coalfield’s Rommel Conlon took Houston Bryant’s punt at the Sunbright 42 and returned the ball to the Sunbright 7-yard line. On the Jackets first play, Canaan Bowling took the ball into the end zone for Coalfield’s second score. With only 4:05 elapsed in the game, the Jackets led 14-0.
The Jackets scored four more times in the first quarter – three times from scrimmage and once on a 49-yard interception return by Canaan Bowling. Coalfield led 41-0 at the end of the first quarter. The Jackets scored three more times in the second quarter to take a 62-0 lead to the locker room.
Sunbright took the opening kickoff of the second half and ran a 9-play series, with Finn Rodgers carrying the ball in from the 11-yard line for the Tigers’ only touchdown. Sunbright succeeded with a 2-point conversion with Rodgers passing to Justin Ballard in the end zone. With a non-stop clock in effect and leading 62-8, Coalfield ran only one series in the third quarter, with Levi Heidel carrying the ball into the end zone from 23 yards out on the first play from scrimmage.
There was no scoring in the abbreviated fourth quarter, and the Jackets closed out the game with a resounding 68-8 homecoming victory over Sunbright.
Coach Napier’s Jackets stay undefeated at 4-0 on the season. Prior to the Sunbright game, Coalfield ranked #7 in the state in Class A by MaxPreps and is likely to move up in this week’s rankings. The Jackets travel to Oakdale next Friday to face the also unbeaten Oakdale Eagles in a Region 2 matchup. Oakdale ranked in the top 25 prior to Friday night and may also move up in the rankings after their 25-0 victory over Class 2A Wartburg. Sunbright falls to 1-2 overall and 0-2 in Region 2 play.
Thanks to Greg Addington for game stats and Cathy Bird for game photos.
