Game time could not come soon enough for the Macomb High football squad.
“Our kids were ready to go at about 8:05 this morning,” said MHS coach Tanner Horrell. “We had to tame them down.”
“When that opening kickoff came, we were ready to go,” he added.
Hosting Knoxville in the season opener at MHS Stadium, the Bombers came out soaring, building a 42-0 lead by halftime on the way to notching a 42-14 victory.
Expectations were high for the Bombers entering the contest and they did not disappoint.
With nine starters returning on both sides of the ball from last year’s 9-2 team, Macomb controlled the game in all phases.
“Our O-line set the tone and our skill guys did a good job of finding the openings,” said Horrell. “Our D-line played great and our linebackers hit.”
Macomb scored on all six of its first half offensive possessions. Meanwhile, the Blue Bullets managed just 66 total yards of offense. That included 41 yards rushing on 26 attempts.
“I thought our defense looked outstanding,” said MHS senior Drake May. “Bringing people off the edge and blitzing down the middle when we needed to. When we all put it together, they didn’t score the first half when we had the starters in. That’s all we can ask for.”
“We came out and we put it on them quick,” added Bomber junior Colby Martin. “I loved it.”
The Bombers needed just three plays to score their first touchdown of the season.
Covering 64 yards, May’s 22-yard run 61 seconds into the contest put the Bombers up 6-0. Senior kicker Hayden Katz then booted the first of his six point-after-touchdown kicks to make it 7-0 at the 10:59 mark.
Knoxville picked up one first down on its opening possession. But on a third-and-eight, freshman quarterback Gavin Harshbarger rolled out to his right. May punched the ball free and Martin recovered for the Bombers at the Blue Bullet 35.
On the next play, quarterback Kaden Knupp connected with Carter Havens for a 35-yard score in boosting the lead to 14-0.
The next series saw linebacker Jeshua McPheeters force a Hayden Warner fumble that Martin recovered at the Knoxville 30.
Four plays later, Martin scored his first TD as a Bomber on an 11-yard run that made it 21-0 with 2:56 left in the period.
The Blue Bullets recorded one first down on its next possession, but a sack by Martin stalled the drive that ended with a Knoxville punt.
Starting at their own 45, the Bombers used five plays to cover 55 yards. McPheeters scored from nine yards out, pushing the lead to 28-0.
Knoxville reached the Macomb 40 on its next drive before turning the ball over on downs.
The Bombers closed out the half scoring twice in the final 34 seconds.
May’s five-yard score capped an eight-play, 64-yard drive that made it 35-0 with 34.2 seconds left.
Woodruff fumbled the ensuing kickoff with Macomb recovering at the Blue Bullet 32.
May scored on the next play to push the advantage to 42-0.
“This is the first game,” said May. “We’ve got eight more to be perfect and that’s where we want to be at. To start off like this, I thought we looked amazing for the first game. But we’ve got to make some adjustments and look over the film and come back better for week two.”
“That’s what you hope for when you have all those kids back in week one,” said Horrell.
“When you execute, it makes you look really good,” he added. “But I want to give Knoxville a lot of credit. Those guys battled really hard. There was no quit in them. They took some shots and kept getting up.”
“We were competing every play. It wasn’t like it was just given to us. Kudos to Knoxville.”
The Macomb reserves took to the field in the second half, getting valuable experience.
“We got a lot of kids their first opportunity to play on a Friday night,” said Horrell. “I thought we’ve done a lot better than they have in the past.”
“You never know when someone’s going to go down,” said May. “To have the backup have a little bit of experience under their belt, it means just so much more.”
“If a person goes down, the next one is ready to step up.”
Macomb finished with 205 yards rushing on just 17 carries. May finished with 125 yards and three TDs on just six carries.
Knupp finished 5-of-10 passing for 86 yards and a score. Havens had two catches for 58 yards, while Kyler Norton added three catches for 28 yards.
Twenty-two players found their way onto the tackle chart, led by May’s 12 total tackles. McPheeters added six total tackles, while James Liebsack also recorded six total tackles in the second half.
Martin added three total tackles, along with a pair of fumble recoveries.
“The coaches and the kids playing with me, they’ve welcomed me with open arms,” said Martin. “They gave me a spot and I tried to do the most I could with it and prove something.”
“You don’t have to rely on only yourself,” he added. “You’ve got 10 other guys that can get the job done. It’s good to be able to rely on others.”
“His energy is contagious and other guys build off that, feed off that,” said Horrell of Martin.
The Bombers return home this week, facing LVC (Lewistown/Valley/Cuba) in a LincolnLand crossover contest.
The Miners have lost 21 straight games dating back to 2023. Last week, LVC opened its season with a 54-6 loss to ROWVA/Williamsfield.
“We’ve got really high hopes this year,” said May. “In week one, you’ve got to play, and you’ve got to learn from it and move on and just get better down the road.”
“This can’t be a peak,” said Horrell. “We’ve got to keep getting better every week.”
“The goal is to go 1-0 every week and we did that this week,” he added. “But (next week) it’s a new challenge. Hopefully our guys will be ready to go next Friday so that we can go 1-0 again.”
Colby Martin Photo by Andrea Ratermann
