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Simon Kenton standout, Miles Simpson, saw limited playing time in the game against Newport Central Catholic, but that didn’t matter as the Pioneers went on to beat the Thoroughbreds, 29-8 Saturday afternoon at Nippert Stadium.
Simpson, out with a mild left ankle sprain sustained in the eighth play of last week’s scrimmage against Holmes, served as a decoy for much of the game. The Pioneers turned to senior running back Nik Brown and junior running back Sage Powell to fill the void left by Simpson. The duo combined for 119 yards and multitalented quarterback, Chad Lawrence, chipped in with 82 yards rushing of his own.
“If we can put 29 points on the board and perform like we did with making NewCath defend more than one person, then I’ll take that any day of the week,” said 10th-year Simon Kenton head coach Jeff Marksberry. “We stuck to the game plan today. We’ve thrown the ball very well our first two scrimmages. It’s something that we’ve talked to our team about we wanted to have.”
Lawrence finished 8-for-15 passing for 141 yards and three touchdowns in the win.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Pioneers held NewCath to just one touchdown for the second straight week. Thus far this season, the Thoroughbreds have only put up 15 points of offense.
“The defense did an outstanding job after some halftime adjustments,” Marksberry said. “The one thing that was hurting us was the inside zone play and we came up with a different front for us to use. It worked out because they didn’t come back it until late in the fourth quarter.”
After a scoreless first quarter, Simon Kenton got on the board first with a 16-yard run by Powell with 7:54 remaining in the half. Following a successful two-point conversion, the Thoroughbreds equalized on a 13-yard run by junior running back Chris Kelly four minutes later.
With the score tied, 8-8 Simon Kenton scored just before intermission on a nine-yard throw from Lawrence to wide receiver Zach Carroll, effectively putting the Pioneers ahead for good.
After another end zone strike, Simon Kenton had a 21-8 lead. The Thoroughbreds then put together a promising drive, but were unable to score. NewCath had a fresh set of downs ready to punch in the ball after a Kelly run set up first and goal. But a bad snap resulted in a loss of 27 yards followed by a sack for another loss of seven yards, forcing the Thoroughbreds to punt.
“We got to cut down on the mistakes, and I think we’ll be fine,” said NewCath head coach Bob Schneider. “That stuff kills you.”
Will be updated with photos...SIMON KENTON 0-14-7-8–29
NEWCATH 0-8-0-0-8
SK–Powell 16 run
NCC–Kelly 13 run
SK–Carroll 9 pass from Lawrence (2-point failed)
SK–Winkler 7 pass from Lawrence (Repka kick)
SK–Carroll 20 pass from Lawrence
RECORDS: Simon Kenton 1-0, NewCath 0-2.
