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BAXTER — On a soggy September night that saw his football team slip up, Prairie City-Monroe head football coach Greg Bonnett could only praise Collins-Maxwell/Baxter’s Bryce Kemp.
When Bonnett’s Mustangs scored 14 unanswered points, reshapping what began as a one-sided affair into a competitive 17-14, third-quarter district matchup, it was Kemp’s 44-yard touchdown run that widened CMB’s lead back to double digits.
When Bennett’s Mustangs again trimmed its deficit to three in the fourth quarter and marched 58 yards on five plays into CMB territory, giving the appearence of a team about to take its first lead, it was Kemp’s 70-yard interception return for a touchdown that squashed PCM’s momentum.
“(Kemp) was a difference maker tonight,” Bonnett said. “He was the difference.”
Kemp’s efforts were not alone, although the senior played a large role in CMB’s 31-28 victory at Jerry Lee Robinson Field Friday night.
The Raiders overcame three turnovers and, after PCM cut its deficit to three on its final possession for the third time, ran out the remaining 4 minutes and 8 seconds to improve to 5-0.
“It’s an incredible feeling right now,” Kemp said of his team’s unblemished record.
The Raiders benefitted from a career night by running back Blake Coughenour, who carried the ball 25 times for 239 yards. Coughenour, a sophomore, scored the game’s first touchdown on an 83-yard run down the middle of the field.
Both teams received solid running back play — PCM senior Ronnie Marshall totalled a career-high 194 yards on 35 carries and 42 yards on two catches — and needed to after steady rain fell for roughly 30 minutes in the first half.
Offensive production increased once the rain left. PCM drove 65 yards on seven plays to score just before halftime and then, after Coughenour fumbled the ball on the first possession of the second half, drove 49 yards on seven plays to make it a one-possession game. Marshall ended both drives with 2-yard touchdown runs.
“The rain, that ball, it was soaking wet,” PCM quarterback Logan Gilman said. “You couldn’t throw the ball; wet gloves on the receivers (made it) tough to catch it. Tough to snap it. Tough to do anything in the rain besides run the ball.”
“If it would’ve been a dry game, it would’ve been a lot higher scoring, I’m sure.”
The game featured two of the more prolific passing attacks in the state. Through the first four weeks of the season, PCM posted the third-most passing yards in the state while CMB the 12th most. So it was no surprise that Kemp, CMB’s top receiver, impacted the game.
How he did so was noteworthy.
Midway through the third quarter on CMB’s second drive after halftime, Kemp lined up behind center in shotgun formation with the ball on the PCM 44-yard line. It was a formation CMB head coach Rob Luther first mentioned weeks ago as a way to get the ball in Kemp’s hands as secondaries focus in on the six foot, five inch, 205-pound receiver.
Against the Mustangs, Kemp took the snap, faked a hand off and then ran straight down the middle of the field through a hole in the PCM defense for his second rushing touchdown of the year.
“Coach Luther kept saying he wanted to get the ball into my hands, but with the crappy conditions and throwing the ball, he wasn’t real secure on that, so he’s just like, let’s put you at quarterback and try it out,” Kemp said, noting the performance of his blockers on the play. “I could probably drive a semi through that. That hole was huge.”
No play seemed bigger than Kemp’s interception that halted PCM’s threatening offense. Trailing 24-21 with 7:15 to play, PCM began its drive at its own 9-yard line. Four running plays to Marshall and a screen pass to Marshall sent the Mustangs to the CMB 33-yard line. On the sixth play, Gilman dropped back and passed to his left, only to have CMB’s Hunter Gunderson deflect the ball into the air where it wobbled until falling into Kemp’s hands.
“All the momentum was on our side and one of their linebackers tipped it up and Bryce Kemp made a great play. Nothing you can do about it,” said Gilman, who finished 13-of-26 for 220 yards with two touchdowns. “That won’t keep me up tonight because I know there’s nothing I or anybody on the team can do about that. Bryce Kemp, he’s a great player. That’s why he’s going D-I.”
Said Coughenour, “It seemed like they were going to take the lead and then we tipped it in the air, I saw Bryce grab it, he sprinted down the sideline and I was like, this game’s ours.”
Contact Sports Writer Ben Schuff at (641) 792-3121 Ext. 6536 or at bschuff@newtondailynews.com.