Mason County’s Izley Morales attempts to bring down Ludlow quarterback Jaxson Rice in Friday’s game in Maysville. (Evan Dennison, The Ledger Independent)
HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL
Mason County’s Keshaun Thomas throws a deep pass to Terrell Henry. (Evan Dennison, The Ledger Independent)
Energy guys, every team needs them.
While Carter Sanders is one of them for Mason County, he’s usually energizing the Royals on the defensive side of the football at linebacker.
But on Friday, it was Sanders special team play in returning a squib kick 65 yards for a score that led the Royals to 39 unanswered points in a 45-14 rout of Ludlow on Homecoming night.
The Royals came out sluggish in the first after an opening score from Keshaun Thomas to Terrell Henry, allowing Ludlow to drive down the field for over six minutes, but resulted in zero points after Jonathan Jones broke up a pass in the Royals red zone.
A Royals fumble followed, the Panthers capitalizing on a Dameyn Anness 22-yard run to give Ludlow a 7-6 lead in the early stages of the second quarter.
Then Sanders, who also runs track at Mason County, collected the squib kick, found a hole and raced to the end zone.
“Our game plan all week was to just make sure we get on the ball, but they kicked it straight to me and I had time to look and see there’s a hole. I just saw a big hole and took off. I run track so I’m pretty quick. So I just took off,” Sanders said.
The speed part didn’t surprise Wynn.
“He’s one of the fastest guys on the team. When he runs a straight line, lightning, he’s fast man. Literally ran a 4.6, 40. Great play, high energy guy and really provided a spark there,” Wynn said.
It was all Royals from there, closing out the first half with 26 points in the final 6:32 to give them a 38-7 lead at the break. Caden Clark-Roberts and Chad Clark-Roberts scored on touchdown runs, Caden’s from 33 yards, Chad’s five yards out. Then Thomas improvised on a high snap to run one in from four yards out, the last of the points coming on a Thomas 36-yard pass to CJ Arthur, redeeming himself after an earlier drop that would have went for a touchdown.
“Mistakes happen. My last drive I fumbled the ball when I should have just taken a sack. Mistakes happen, you’re human, it’s football, next play,” Thomas said. “I’ve been talking with CJ ever since Week 1 about getting him one. I missed him against Newport where I threw an interception. I missed him and then he missed that one so I came and got him before he went on kick off and was like, ‘Hey, I got you, you’re gonna get one.’ So he ended up getting one. It’s nice to see those guys that have developed from their freshman year to sophomore year. The young guys seeing them develop and they come out and do their jobs. It’s nice. I love to see it,” Thomas said.
The Royals offense was rolling, the fourth time this season they’ve cleared the 40-point mark. Thomas had 150 yards passing at halftime and accounted for three touchdowns, two throwing, one running.
“Just being confident in our game plan trusting my guys as always, and just letting them go make the plays. They gave us the fade a lot and the one on one matchup and we took advantage of that tonight,” Thomas said.
Caden Clark-Roberts got the game to a running clock in the third on a 15-yard run, helping erase any memories of a first quarter fumble as he finished as the team’s leading rusher with 71 yards on six carries.
“Couple fumbles, uncharacteristic. Seniors I trust those guys. If you look at our offense, there’s full faith there. I trust these guys to go out and do it. Keshaun’s throwing the ball really well, throw it short, throw it deep, intermediate. We’re a full force offense there,” Wynn said.
After the sluggish start, the defense got itself together, allowing a touchdown in the fourth with the game well in hand.
Coming off a blowout victory, Homecoming night and Fleming County on deck may have attributed to the slow start.
“Think the first quarter we kind of slept and that kind of happens though with the week with Homecoming and I don’t want to use that as a crutch. We got to come out and you know, the bar is a lot higher to where we want to be and we got to get there,” Royals coach Joe Wynn said. “We got to get better. We won, but we didn’t play very well.”
Not much motivation will be needed to be found when the Royals head to Flemingsburg next week.
“I don’t think there needs to be a great pregame talk or a lot of motivational talk on Monday. We’re going to hit the ground running on Monday, and you know, it’s a rivalry game. The biggest thing I’m gonna say to the guys is records don’t matter. Past scores don’t matter. No matter what the record is, what the scores are, if you want to go by records, that would be awesome. But unfortunately, you don’t win by records,” Wynn said. “So we need to come out here and prepare well, the moment won’t be too big for our kids. It’s a really fun game and fun atmosphere. I’m sure all of Maysville is gonna empty out over there and it’s gonna be packed and it’s gonna be a great atmosphere for us to get in. Excited for Friday, wish it was Friday already.”
The win gets the Royals to 6-0, next week’s matchup playing a big part in postseason seeding.
Ludlow finished with 229 yards in the contest, getting their scores on a pair of 22-yard touchdown runs, the first from Anness, the last one from Jaylen Bridges as they dropped to 2-4 on the year and face Newport Central Catholic next week.
ROYALS 45, WILDCATS 14
LUDLOW – 0-7-0-7 — 14
MASON COUNTY – 6-32-7-0 — 45
Scoring
1st Quarter
(MC) Thomas 6-yard pass to Henry (8:48) Run failed
2nd Quarter
(L) D. Anness 22-yard run (11:44) Rice kick
(MC) C. Sanders 65-yard kickoff return (11:36) Run failed
(MC) Caden Clark-Roberts 33-yard run (6:32) Skaggs kick
(MC) Chad Clark-Roberts 5-yard run (4:49) Pass failed
(MC) Thomas 4-yard run (1:35) Skaggs kick
(MC) Thomas 36-yard pass to Arthur (:40) Run failed
3rd Quarter
(MC) Caden Clark-Roberts 15-yard run (7:54) Skaggs kick
4th Quarter
(L) Bridges 22-yard run (7:15) Rice kick
Game Stats
Passing Yards: Ludlow 111 (Rice 11/19), Mason 156 (Thomas 11/19, Routt 1/3)
Rushing Yards: Ludlow 118 (Bridges 13-47, Rice 19-41, Anness 3-30), Mason 134 (Caden Clark-Roberts 6-71, B. Sanders 3-51, Walker 2-15, Chad Clark-Roberts 2-9, Johnson 1-(minus) 4, Thomas 3-(minus) 8)
Receiving: Ludlow Ralston 4-61, Kendall 1-25, Riggs 1-8, King 1-7, Powell 2-7, Anness 1-3, Bridges 1-0) Mason (Marshall 3-61, Arthur 1-36, Henry 4-24, B. Sanders 1-14, Pugh 1-12, Scilley 1-5, Walker 1-4)
Turnovers: Ludlow 1, Mason 3
Penalties: Ludlow 6-50, Mason6-43
Records: Ludlow 2-4, Mason County 6-0
