McLoud routs Harrah

HARRAH–Eric Cardin felt a sense of relief after his Class 4A 10th-ranked McLoud Redskins thumped the Class 5A Harrah Panthers 28-9 Friday night in the 2008 football season opener at Evans Field.
It wasn’t that the sixth-year head coach had to sweat it out profusely, considering McLoud turned in a dominating performance.
“This may have been the hardest game I’ve had to call. It’s tough when you get six or seven yards then you get called for a penalty,” said Cardin.
The flags were indeed flying and most went against the Redskins as they were penalized 17 times for a whopping 165 yards.
But McLoud, behind the passing of senior southpaw slinger Wayland Moore, a big 72-yard touchdown run by Cody Phipps and a relentless defensive thrust overcame the dirty laundry on the field and rolled to the victory.
Moore, a 6-3, 200-pounder, was 12-of-17 passing for 173 yards and two touchdowns, including a 26-yarder to Clay Cox on a slant and slash and a 60-yard strike to Cody Ferrell.
“Waylon was healthy for this game (against Harrah) for the first time. He had a a broken finger last year and had a broken arm two years ago,” Cardin said. “He’s a smart quarterback and does a good job for us.”
Ferrell led the Redskin receivers with five grabs for 118 yards and the one score while Phipps, thanks to his 72-yard cross-country jaunt, ended up with 88 yards on 13 carries.
Not to be outdone, the McLoud defense got into the scoring act as linebacker Dylan Shattuck stripped the ball from Harrah’s Anthony McWater and returned it 30 yards for a TD in the third quarter.
“Our defense did a great job and they got their one touchdown against our 2’s,” said Cardin.
Phipps, who also doubled at linebacker, registered a team-leading 13 tackles, including at least three stops behind the line of scrimmage, while being backed by some solid play from his defensive teammates. Defensive end Miles Bacon came up with a sack in the game while Charles Mills honed in on a fake punt attempt and tackled the Panthers’ Brett Roberts for no gain.
Senior Bobby Wiley also out-leaped a Harrah receiver and intercepted a Roberts pass in the end zone just before halftime to keep the score at 14-0 at the break.
McLoud, on its second possession, jumped out to a 7-0 first-quarter advantage after taking advantage of a high snap on a Panther punt attempt. The Redskins then took over at the Harrah 22 and eventually got on the boards when Moore hit Cox on an inside slant and Cox weaved his way 26 yards for the touchdown with 5:52 remaining in the opening period.
The Redskins upped the count to 14-0 on their first play of the second quarter as Phipps took the handoff from Moore and out-sprinted the Panther defense for the score with 10:03 left before halftime.
McLoud then made it 21-0 with Shattuck’s fumble return for the touchdown and Daniel Mauricio’s third PAT of the night with 10:19 to go in the third.
Harrah finally got on the board with 2:28 remaining in the third on Devon Lansford’s 30-yard field goal.
The Redskins then rounded out their scoring on the opening play of the fourth quarter as Moore launched a long pass to Ferrell at the 30-yard line and Ferrell then out-juked a pair of Panther defenders and sprinted into the end zone for the TD with 11:44 left.
Harrah got a late touchdown off a 15-yard run by Cameron Cornish.
McLoud opens the home portion of its 2008 schedule next Friday against Perkins at 7:30 p.m.