PREP FOOTBALL: Bearcats pay Arab back for 2014 defeat with 56-7 rout
Published 1:57 am Saturday, August 22, 2015
- Joyce Moore, the wife of the late Larry Moore, receives a Cullman helmet from athletic director Mark Stephens during Friday's pregame festivities. Larry Moore died in March after spending 30 years as the Bearcats' PA announcer.
They say there was a football game played at Cullman High on Friday night.
Except games generally require two teams, and only one showed up to Oliver Woodard Stadium.
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It wasn’t Arab.
The Bearcats easily exacted the sweet revenge they’d sought since last season’s opener, kicking off the 2015 campaign with a 56-7 drubbing of the nearby Knights.
Ethan McMinn piled on three rushing touchdowns and an interception, Logan Shugarts swung the early momentum with a slick pick-six and Cullman received hearty contributions from just about everywhere in a rout that more than made up for falling on the wrong side of a 21-14 battle on the road a year ago.
“It’s incredible how much we worked through the offseason just to work towards this game — and we showed it tonight,” McMinn said. “In the second half, we just took over. They could not move the ball. They couldn’t do nothin’.”
The ’Cats enjoyed a 21-7 cushion at halftime but truly jumped into the driver’s seat in the fourth quarter. Dawson Drake’s 8-yard touchdown tote with 8:07 to go started a chain of four scores in about a five-minute span. The last three six-point plays were sparked by turnovers — a fumble recovery by Justin Patterson and interceptions by McMinn and Jaron Potter.
Josh Skinner cashed in on Patterson’s retrieval with a 1-yard touchdown run. Fellow sophomore Logan Styles sealed the deal on the picks with electrifying 29- and 5-yard scampers into the end zone.
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Dalton Yerby and Shugarts were responsible for much of Cullman’s early success.
Yerby pinned Arab at its own 1 with a perfect punt after Cullman stalled on the game’s first possession. The Black and Gold defense followed by forcing a quick three-and-out, and the offense happily took advantage of the short field with a 1-yard run from McMinn. A 19-yard pass and catch between Ross Crocker and Reese Harbison helped set up the touchdown.
Shugarts put the scoreboard operator back to work just more than a minute later, stepping in front of a Daulton Hyatt pass around midfield and jetting for paydirt. The senior only had Hyatt to beat, juked past the Division I prospect and rumbled in for six points.
The finishing move was particularly satisfying considering Hyatt had the biggest hand in dismantling Cullman in the 2014 clash. After racking up triple-digit passing and rushing yards in that meeting, the highly touted junior only went for 22 yards on the ground and 142 with three interceptions and a touchdown through the air in the rematch.
Even still, Shugarts wouldn’t go so far to classify Friday’s rematch as revenge.
“I just felt like we played a really good game,” he said. “I think we showed them how we can really play instead of running out of gas and not doing well in the fourth quarter.”
Half of Hyatt’s passing production came on a third-and-24 conversion that went for 71 yards. He connected with Ethan Wooten from 5 yards out for Arab’s only touchdown shortly thereafter.
The rest of the night belonged to Cullman’s stingy defense, which received stellar showings from Yerby, Patterson, McMinn, Chase Landrum, Tyler Taunton, Zach Glenn and too many others to count. Shugarts added to his bounty by sniffing out a fake punt for a big loss early in the fourth quarter.
“My hat’s off to coach Hop,” Cullman head coach Mark Britton said of defensive coordinator Matt Hopper. “I thought he and coach (Jonathan) Romine really had a great scheme against a very talented bunch.”
Britton also tipped his cap to the Bearcats’ depth-heavy offensive line, which paved the way for a whopping 314 rushing yards.
Drake dished out 169 yards and the touchdown as the lead tailback. The junior was a workhorse with 23 carries after spending the bulk of his career at receiver. He still caught three passes — including an 8-yard tippy toe down the left sideline for a two-point conversion — for 40 yards.
McMinn logged seven carries for 47 yards and the three scores. Styles had 55 yards and the two late touchdowns, and Ezra Burks added 30 yards.
“I love running the football,” said McMinn, who primarily plays defensive back. “I couldn’t do it without my linemen.”
Ross Crocker’s second season as quarterback got off to a solid start. The junior finished 12 of 19 for 150 yards.
Crocker’s most consistent target was Caden Winn, who turned six catches into 68 yards. Harbison had just two receptions but squeezed 43 yards out of them.
Isaac Rodriguez was phenomenal in his football debut. The sophomore soccer standout booted six touchbacks and made six extra points. His only misses were on a point-after backed up to 25 yards and a 35-yarder that was barely wide right.
With the win, Cullman avoided losing consecutive season openers for the first time since 1982-83. Britton is now 13-2 in openers while with the Bearcats and 15-3 overall.
Cullman extended its overwhelming advantage in the series to 40-17-2.
“I’m real pleased with the first game,” Britton said. “Exactly a team effort. Your hard offseason tends to pay off. For our kids, we put a lot on them, and we did want to win this game. It was very important for us.”
The ’Cats will stay put to host Etowah in another non-region showdown next week.
Cullman’s pregame festivities Friday were highlighted by a tribute to Larry Moore, who died in March after 30 years as the program’s PA announcer. Moore’s family took the field to grand applause and were presented with a team helmet by a couple of Cullman High administrators.
Tommy Warhurst took his first turn in the booth Friday as Moore’s replacement.