The McCracken County offense was as good as was advertised and the Mustangs rolled to a 63-20 Class 6-A, District 1 football victory over Christian County Friday night in Paducah.
McCracken senior quarterback Maddox O’Neal, who has signed with Murray State, threw for 217 yards and five touchdowns as the Mustangs improved to 4-4 overall and 2-0 in the district.
Landon Newman also ran for two touchdowns and led all runners with 103 yards on eight carries.
The Mustangs scored on every possession except for the final chance of the game when they took a knee to run out the clock.
Newman had a 10-yard touchdown run and O’Neal threw touchdown passes of 13 and 9 yards to Jakari Matchem and Jude Lanier, respectively, in the first quarter.
However, Christian County’s Tom Johnson had a 78-yard pass to James Farley to set up a 4-yard scoring run by Deasian Harris as the Colonels trailed 20-7 after one quarter.
Newman’s 25-yard scoring run and a 15-yard touchdown pass from O’Neal to Lanier pushed the McCracken lead to 35-7 with 7:20 to go in the first half.
Johnson found Darius Finch across the middle and the senior outran the Mustangs’ defense for an 85-yard touchdown pass to slice the lead to 35-14 with 6:12 left in the half.
However, the Mustangs were back in the end zone again on a 19-yard scoring pass to Steven Pitts with 4:34 left and a 32-yard pass from O’Neal to Matchem made it 49-14 with 2:27 to go in the second quarter.
McCracken played reserve players in the second half and Dawson Hayden ran 44 yards for a score to push the lead to 56-14 with 7:43 left in the third quarter. Back-up quarterback Cole Presswood found Corterrion Turner on a 23-yard scoring pass to extend the lead to 63-14 with 10:24 to play.
Christian County (1-7, 0-2) had one more big play up its sleeve as back-up quarterback Mason Cansler and Finch hooked up for an 80-yard scoring pass for the final touchdown of the night.
McCracken racked up 452 total yards of offense, while Christian County had 370. Johnson ended the night with 207 yards passing while Cansler ended the night with 110.
Finch finished the night with four catches for 176 yards and two touchdowns. Johnson was the Colonels’ leading rusher with 38 yards on three carries.
Christian County will take on Hopkinsville Oct. 24 at the Stadium of Champions in what will be the last football game between the two schools before they consolidate next fall. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
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