Senior Max Kramer returned the opening kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown — and Caldwell County was off and running.
The Tigers led 34-0 after one quarter and 48-0 at halftime on the way to a 61-6 victory over Fort Campbell in Class 2A 1st District action Friday night in Princeton.
Caldwell also scored touchdowns on its first two plays from scrimmage while improving to 5-3 overall and 2-1 in district play.
The big win highlighted a busy night at Tiger Stadium that saw Caldwell hold both Senior Night and Homecoming.
The school honored its senior football players, managers and band members before the game.
Senior Reagan Hodge was crowned Homecoming queen at halftime.
Meanwhile, the Tigers controlled most of the action on the field.
After going up 6-0 on the opening kickoff, Caldwell got the ball back three plays later on a Jamus Carneyhan interception.
On the next play, Jack Stevens hit Luke Parker with a 6-yard touchdown pass. Blake Vivrette’s extra-point kick made it 13-0 just 1:50 into the contest.
A Fort Campbell fumble gave the ball back to Caldwell at the Falcon 25. Logan Smiley carried it home from there, helping the Tigers go up 20-0 with still 8:02 left in the opening stanza.
Caldwell needed five plays to cover 47 yards on its next series. Smiley capped that off with a 14-yard scoring carry to make it 27-0 at the 3:03 mark of the first quarter.
A short Fort Campbell punt was returned 32 yards for a touchdown by Kramer, making it a 34-0 game with 46 seconds remaining in the period.
With many reserves in the game in the second quarter, the Tigers put up two more touchdowns.
Parker connected with Zavy Bumphus for a 37-yard touchdown play. Vivrette’s PAT made it 44-0 at the 8:52 mark of the second period.
Caldwell then went a different route on its next possession after recovering a Fort Campbell fumble at the Falcon 10.
Three straight runs by senior lineman Jordan Ladd resulted in another touchdown. Ladd ran for 4 yards, 5 yards and then 1 yard for the score, setting off Caldwell celebrations both on the field and on the sideline. Vivrette again kicked the extra point to make it 48-0 with 5:20 left in the half.
A running clock throughout much of the second period and the entire second half helped hurry up the rest of the game.
Still, Caldwell tacked on two more touchdowns from Demaurius Thompson on a 1-yard run with 6:00 left in the third quarter and a 10-yard carry with 9:24 left in the game.
Caldwell scored touchdowns on its first nine possessions. The Tigers had the ball one more time, but did not run a play as the clock ran out.
Fort Campbell (0-7, 0-3) had broken up the shutout just before that.
Quarterback Patrick Hayes ran 50 yards for a touchdown with 3:45 left in the contest. A two-point run failed, leaving the score at 61-6.
With the clock continuing to run after the play, Fort Campbell did not kick off until less than a minute remained. Caldwell elected not to run another play after fair-catching the kick.
The Tigers put up a season-high 61 points despite totaling only 197 yards of total offense.
It’s the first time the Tigers have topped 60 points since a 64-21 victory at Crittenden County in the fourth game of the 2017 season.
Parker was 5 of 6 passing for 62 yards.
Thompson ran for 41 yards on nine carries while Smiley had 46 yards and three attempts as Caldwell ran for 129 yards in the contest.
Fort Campbell had 126 yards of total offense with Hayes rushing for 123 of that.
The Falcons will host Caverna next week in a non-district game.
Meanwhile, Caldwell heads to Murray with a home game on the line in the first round of the playoffs.
Murray is 5-1 overall and 2-0 in the district after routing Ballard Memorial 75-6 on Friday.
The Caldwell-Murray winner figures to host the loser when the Class 2A playoffs start.
One Response
Boldly stated – Caldwell was playing like they still owed Fort Campbell payback from the Micah Johnson years! Now that’s what you call corporal punishment from one schools group of athletes to another schools group of athletes!