Maconaquah Schools

Maconaquah's junior varsity football team improved to 3-1 on the year with a convincing 38-8 win over Peru at home Monday night. The young Braves took control late in the first quarter after Peru was forced to punt and Alexander Martin returned it 21 yards to the Tiger 31. Facing a crucial fourth-and-six situation four plays later, Martin teamed up with Jayden Mercer on a 20-yard pass play moving the pigskin to the Mac seven. Martin hit Nate Rader with a seven-yard TD pass on the next play and then tossed the two-point conversion pass to Jaxon Sullivan, 8-0. On the night, Martin was 11-20, good for 109 yards. Mercer led Brave receivers with 57 yards on four catches. Martin got the ball back for Maconaquah on Peru's next drive by recovering a fumble at the Tiger 34. The Braves moved to the 11 on three carries by Rader and a 13-yard Martin-to-Rader pass. Facing a third-and-goal at the 11, Sullivan grabbed a TD pass surrounded by three Peru defenders for a 14-0 lead. The Braves stuffed Peru on its next possession and got the ball back at the Tiger 33 after stopping the visitors for consecutive losses on running plays. With 2:27 showing, the Braves moved to the Tiger three yard line as Sullivan (12 yards) and Mercer (21 yards) caught passes. Mercer's diving grab was on a crucial fourth-and-13 play. Martin scored on a QB keeper from the three to give MHS a 20-0 cushion at halftime. Mac's defense held Peru to 12 yards of total offense in the first half. Peru took the kickoff to start the second half and was stopped cold on three plays. The Tigers got the ball back quickly as the speedy Martin returned a punt 51 yards to paydirt for a 26-0 lead the 7:44 mark. Rader's 13-yard TD run six minutes later pushed the Brave lead to 32-0. Rader led Mac's ground attack with a game-high 148 yards on 13 carries, including the Brave's last score, a nice 75-yard gallop midway through the fourth stanza, 38-0. Peru scored on a 74-yard run (it's last offensive play of the game) in the final three minutes. Up to that point Maconaquah's defense had held the Tigers to 27 yards of total offense as defensive coordinator DJ Elliot's troops came up big all night long. Cameron Wheeler led the Braves with five tackles. Cooper Powell had four stops, while Camron Metcalf, Aiden Ousley and Chase Washburn were each credited with three.