Mason County’s Dravin Routt tackles Powell County’s Preston Spangler for a loss of yardage during the first half, Friday night in Maysville. (Evan Dennison, The Ledger Independent)
HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL
Mason County’s Brady Sanders stiff arms a Powell County defender during Friday night’s contest. The Royals won 39-8 to secure a home playoff game the first Friday in November. (Evan Dennison, The Ledger Independent)
Senior night can be tough at times on who to play when and where.
While wanting to give the seniors their recognition and reward them with a special night, there’s still the task at hand and it was a big one for Mason County to try and secure a home playoff game.
They were able to do both, spread the wealth, get plenty involved and take care of business in a 39-8 victory over Powell County.
“Told the guys this week that they have to earn that. We weren’t just going to play guys because it’s time to play you. You see our team, we have some seniors that do things really well on certain things and accept that role. They also push the boundary to go do more and we put some guys in certain spots to where they earned that. They practiced hard to get in those spots. Senior Night is big for them and we earned another home game,” Royals coach Joe Wynn said.
The win clinches the No. 2 seed in the Class 3A, 6th District for the Royals, earning them a home playoff game the first Friday in November, most likely against Powell County again.
While that was getting taken care of, six different Royals scored touchdowns on the night as they were able to get the game to a running clock by the end of the third quarter.
It was a couple of seniors who got some of the damage done, Mason Butler scoring on a jet sweep near the end of the first half, his third touchdown of the season.
“Feels good to get another touchdown, but most importantly get the win and get a home playoff game,” Butler said, who joined the team this year. “Hopefully we can keep it rolling going into the postseason, that’s our goal is to win the district. Biggest problem right now is me catching the ball, but Ja’Marr Chase couldn’t catch the ball in preseason either.”
Donivan Bandalan got his first career touchdown on a 50-yard pass from Keshaun Thomas to start the scoring in a 19-point third quarter.
“Keshaun did a great job of getting the ball out and getting it right in my hands. Just doing my job and doing what the coaches need me to. It was time, Senior Night so it was a good time,” Bandalan said.
Some other regulars were able to find the end zone too, Isaac Marshall on a 41-yard reception for his sixth touchdown of the season, Brady Sanders giving the Royals a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter with a 10-yard run.
Facing a Powell County team that bunches things in and runs it nearly every play, the Royals knew they had to buckle down on their defensive front and did so admirably through the majority of the game.
“Our defensive line played well. Plugged some different lineman in and tried some different things. It’s hard to imitate their look. They run good keys, we told the guys all week to trust yourselves and trust your keys. It’s hard to imitate what they do, that’s why teams hate playing Navy in college. You can’t imitate that look and those guys came out and battled,” Wynn said.
The only blemish was a 50-yard score by Larry Shifflet in the fourth quarter, when most of the Royals reserves were in. The Pirates ended with 156 yards of offense, all via the ground attack as they attempted just two passes on the night.
It continues a stretch of dominance for the Royals defense where they’ve now allowed 37 points over their last six games.
“Our defense was just lights out. It’s kind of what I’ve been saying every week, but our varsity defense gave up zero points tonight. We adjusted well, again, defense was lights out,” Wynn said.
Kayne Jones added a 45-yard fumble return for a touchdown, Trey Walker finishing off the Royals scoring with a one-yard run on fourth and goal late in the third quarter to get it to 39-0.
Mason County finished with 297 yards of offense, 156 on the ground and 141 through the air.
“Protection-wise need to be a little bit cleaner, Keshaun took some shots made some good balls. The touchdown pass took a shot and dropped a dime. Ashton (Adams) and Trey (Walker) came in and did some different things for us and brought us some different variables on where we can fit different pieces. I think we’ve kind of figured out where we’re at and I’m kind of excited to see it evolve here,” Wynn said.
The only thing that ended up as a surprise in this one was Mason County having their sideline on the opposite end of where they normally are behind the home crowd. It was strategically planned that way.
“I just think it’s kind of less noise. In the sense of the band, the announcer. The speaker is right behind you so when you’re calling your offense it’s harder to communicate. If you’re over there it’s limited people for the visitors. For our guys it was just a clearer environment to be able to communicate better and talk and make our adjustments,” Wynn said
Next time they do so it will be in a playoff game, something the Royals don’t plan on changing.
“We’ll keep doing that as long as I’m here,” Wynn said.
Up first though is the regular season finale at Greenup County, the Royals heading to Lloyd next week looking to get to 7-3. If they can do so, it would be their most regular season wins since the 2017 season, when they also ended the regular season 7-3.
ROYALS 39, PIRATES 8
POWELL COUNTY – 0-0-0-8 — 8
MASON COUNTY — 14-6-19-0 — 39
Scoring
1st Quarter
(MC) Thomas 41-yard pass to Marshall (8:09) Adams kick
(MC) Sanders 10-yard run (:00) Adams kick
2nd Quarter
(MC) Butler 3-yard run (1:32) Pass failed
3rd Quarter
(MC) Thomas 50-yard pass to Bandalan (11:23) Pass failed
(MC) Jones 45-yard fumble return (6:31) Run failed
(MC) Walker 1-yard run (:28) Adams kick
4th Quarter
(PC) Shifflet 50-yard run (8:53) Townsend pass to Campbell
Game Stats
Passing Yards: Powell 0 (Townsend 0/2), Mason 141 (Thomas 4/12, Routt 1/1, Adams 0/2)
Rushing Yards: Powell 156 (Shifflet 8-56, Norris 10-52, Wells 8-33, Larrison 9-17, Townsend 0-0, Spangler 4-(minus) 2), Mason 156 (Sanders 8-92, Clark-Roberts 3-38, Walker 6-25, Adams 1-9, Jackson 2-4, Routt 1-3, Butler 1-3, Johnson 1-(minus) 3, Thomas 6-(minus) 15)
Receiving: Powell N/A, Mason (Bandalan 1-50, Marshall 1-41, McClain 1-41, Bozeman 1-6, Clark-Roberts 1-3)
Turnovers: Powell 1, Mason 0
Penalties: Powell 5-37, Mason 6-32
Records: Powell County (1-9, 1-3), Mason County (6-3, 3-1)
