Rams take 28-13 win over Rebels

Published 12:27 am Saturday, August 29, 2015

WOODVILLE — Caleb Poole scored two touchdowns, one on offense and one on defense, and Steven Franks had two touchdown runs as the Wilkinson County Christian Academy Rams held on for a 28-13 win over the Central Private School Rebels Friday night.

Until the latter minutes of the third quarter, WCCA’s defense was having its way with Central Private’s offense – something that hasn’t occurred against a team from a higher classification in recent years.

“The defense played real well. We had two or three different goal-line stands. That was a positive,” WCCA head coach Christopher McGraw said. “I was proud of my team for showing a lot of guts.”

Email newsletter signup

The Rams’ running game was in full force for the second straight week. Led by the trio of Franks, Poole and Kyle Folds, WCCA racked up 283 total rushing yards on 41 total carries. In addition to going four-for-four on extra points, Folds was the team’s leading rusher with 97 yards on 14 carries.

Franks had 94 yards on just five carries. Two of those five carries resulted in touchdowns – a 50-yard run with 6:32 to go in the second quarter that gave the Rams a 21-0 lead and a 4-yard TD run with 3:45 remaining in the third quarter that expanded their lead to 28-0.

Poole finished with 10 carries for 82 yards and could have had more had a 65-yard run not been called back by a penalty. But that’s not how he scored his two touchdowns. His first one came through the air – a 38-yard pass from Phillip Cutrer with 2:18 to go in the first quarter. His second one was on a 28-yard interception return with 8:22 left in the second quarter.

“We ran the ball well. The line did a phenomenal job,” McGraw said. “Every back we put in there, including the quarterback, ran the ball hard. But we got sloppy at the end. I don’t know if we got tired. We had three fumbles in the second half.”

Central Private ended WCCA’s shutout bid when Cade Sanchez connected with Jude Fontenot on a 12-yard touchdown pass, but the extra point was no good and the Rebels were down 28-6 with 54 seconds left in the third quarter.

The Rebels made it a two-score game with 5:28 remaining in the game when Sanchez threw a 6-yard scoring strike to Cole Averette and Canaan Thomas added the extra point. But that would be as close as they would get.

“When we got the lead, I didn’t want to throw the ball. We threw one pass. I wanted to keep running the ball,” McGraw said. “Both of their touchdowns came on short fields. But I wasn’t worried about it.”

Cutrer threw just four passes for entire game and completed both of them to Poole for 67 yards. In addition to his two touchdowns, Franks had a solid performance on defense with six tackles and one sack.

Hutch Holden and Braden Passinger led the Rams’ defense with nine tackles each and Sam Nicholas had seven tackles, including three sacks. Rhett Whitehead had six tackles and one sack while Drew Skinner had five tackles and two sacks.

WCCA (2-0) next plays at Ben’s Ford Christian School at 7 p.m. next Friday.