Friday, September 24, 2010

Caldwell capitalizes on 5 turnovers in blowout

Rocket junior Dustin Hernandez looks for some hard-gained yardage
in the second half against Cadlwell County Friday at Princeton.
Tigers 44, Rockets 7


PRINCETON, Ky. – Crittenden County piled several week's worth of mistakes onto the field at Caldwell County and the Tigers scooped them up in a surprisingly lopsided 44-7 victory.


The unranked Tigers shredded Crittenden's pass defense for 252 yards through the air as the fifth-ranked Rockets fell for the first time in five games this season.

Four interceptions and a fumble stymied a Crittenden County offense that had posted 114 points the previous two weeks.

"We just couldn't get anything going because of the turnovers," Rocket coach Al Starnes said. "We didn't take care of the ball and Caldwell capitalized on that."

Three first-half interceptions and a fumble helped the Tigers jump ahead 21-7, but the Rockets still believed they were in the game going into the third period. However, that's when Caldwell poured on the pressure, using playmaker Brandon Sigler to pound the ball on the ground and QB Blake Hodges (who set a career-high for passing yards in a single game) went to work on the secondary, throwing two more touchdown passes as Caldwell scored 37 unanswered points to win going away.

Rocket backup quarterback Bryce Willis had played well in his first two games since starter Brian Berry broke his thumb in the second week of the season. Against Caldwell, Willis struggled as Caldwell applied pressure on the rookie QB. His first pass was picked off and returned 26 yards for a touchdown and he ended up throwing three more, including one in the end zone late in the game, spoiling Crittenden's chances of make the score a bit more respectable. Willis was also sacked three times.

Caldwell County, which has dominated the series 33-10 since the teams first met in 1957, evened the border war record at 6-6 over the last dozen years with its fifth win in six seasons.

"You have to give Caldwell credit. They exploited our inexperience," Starnes said. "What troubles me most is that we didn't play very hard the whole game for some reason and that's on me. I didn't have us ready to play."

The Rockets open district play next week at home against Ballard Memorial.


SCORE BY QUARTERS
Crittenden   7    0      0    0
Caldwell      7   14   16   7


SCORING PLAYS
Cald-Bryce Boyd 26  interception return (Corey Woolsey kick) 10:55, 1st
Critt-Tanner Nix 9 pass from Bryce Willis (Brian Berry kick) 5:23, 1st
Cald-Brandon Sigler 37 pass from Jake Hodges (kick failed) 9:40, 2nd
Cald-Tez Sivills 31 pass from Hodges (Hodges run) :17, 2nd
Cald-Sigler 7 run (Aggie Capps pass from Sigler) 9:03, 3rd
Cald-Sivills 34 pass from Hodges (Sigler run) 4:23, 3rd
Cald-David Ray Faughn 35 pass from Hodges (Woolsey kick) 8:19, 4th


TEAM TOTALS
First Downs: Crittenden 9, Caldwell 13
Penalties: Crittenden 5-27, Caldwell 3-25
Rushing: Crittenden 35-214, Caldwell 29-141
Passing: Crittenden 3-12-4, 41 yds., Caldwell 14-19-0, 252 yds.
Total Yards: Crittenden 255, Caldwell 370
Fumbles/Lost: Crittenden 3-1, Caldwell 1-0


INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
Crittenden-Nix 8-131, Dustin Hernandez 11-58, Brenden Phillips 4-17, Andrew Freeman 8-12, Willis 4-(-4). Caldwell-Sigler 18-118, Sivills 2-15, Hodges 7-10, Landon Bruns 1-3, Faughn 1-(-5), Alex Ringstaff 1-1.
Passing
Crittenden-Willis 3-9-4, 41 yds., Hernandez 0-3-0. Caldwell-Hodges 14-19-0, 252 yds.
Receiving
Crittenden-Nix 2-36, Bobby Knox 1-5. Caldwell-Sivills 4-109, Sigler 5-64, Capps 3-40, Faughn 2-39.
Defense
Asbridge solo; Bebout  4 assists; Berry 6 solos, assist, TFL; Clark solo; Cozart 2 solos, assist; Cudnik 5 solos, assist; Freeman solo, 3 assists; Gardner 4 solos, 2 assists; Hamby 3 solos, Hernandez 3 solos, 2 assists; Knox 4 solos, assist TFL; Long 8 solos, 3 assists, sack, TFL; Nix 2 solos; Phillips solo, 2 assists; B.Wallace 2 assists; D.Wallace solo, 2 assists; Werne 3 assists; Willis solo.
Pizza Hut Players of the Game
Offense Tanner Nix. Defense Jacob Long. Lineman Bobby Knox.
Records
Crittenden 4-1, Caldwell 3-2