Published: October 11, 2008 03:04 am      

Cougars pound Rams, move to 6-2

MERIDIAN — The Calvary Christian School spread offense gave visiting Kemper Academy fits on Friday night, but it was the Cougar defense that put the Rams away in a 54-14 victory.

The Cougar defense came to play on Calvary's first-ever on-campus homecoming night and showed they are ready to take over the reigns in the MPSA 8-man football league.

"This was a big game on our schedule," said Calvary Christian coach Kirby Newell. "I can't say enough about our defense tonight. I was tickled to death. Our defense stepped up and played tonight."

The Cougars forced three turnovers and scored on an interception return against the Rams. Mo Dale once again led the squad with nine solo tackles and 10 assists.

On the offensive side of the ball, CCS scored on its first seven possessions of the game to secure the victory early in the contest.

"I'm proud of my offense," said Newell. "They continued to roll tonight."

Calvary quarterback Kyle Koch rushed for 110 yards to lead the Cougar offense and also completed 10-of-12 passes for 198 yards through the air.

Jonathan Bartlett brought in three passes for 89 yards and Justin Sylvester had a big night for the Cougars with five catches for 74 yards.

After forcing a three-and-out on Kemper's first possession, the Cougars took control of the contest with a 71-yard scoring drive on their first possession.

Calvary took advantage of an offsides call on fourth down to keep the drive going and Koch found the endzone on a 6-yard run. The two-point conversion gave the Cougars an 8-0 lead with 6:58 left in the first quarter.

The Cougars added a quick score on their next possession as Koch found Bartlett behind the Ram defense for a 75-yard scoring strike to stretch the lead to 14-0.

On the Rams' next possession, Dale came away with a fumble recovery at the Kemper 24-yard line and scored four plays later on a 3-yard run by Koch.

Koch hit Bartlett for the two-point conversion to make the score 22-0 with 11:53 left to play before halftime.

The Cougar special teams came up with a big play on the next Kemper Academy possession as Dale broke through the line to block the Rams' punt and set up the Cougars at the KA 20.

On the very next play, Koch hit Sylvester for a 20-yard touchdown strike to make the score 28-0.

An interception by Sylvester on the next KA possession set up the Cougars with great field position at the Ram 32. Calvary continued to move the chains and Koch hit Sylvester for a 4-yard touchdown with 2:04 left in the half.

Koch added the two-point run to make the score 36-0 at the break.

In the second half, Calvary started right where it left off and scored on a 33-yard touchdown strike from Koch to Sylvester on its second play from scrimmage to extend the lead to 42-0.

The Ram offense came to life on their next possession and Tyler Sanderford found Johnathan Allen for a 56-yard touchdown and Sanderford hit Dudley Eldridge for the two-point conversion to make the score 42-8.

The Cougars were just too strong and added a 30-yard touchdown run by Koch just two plays later to put the game away.

Kemper scored on a 23-yard pass from Sanderford to Drew Watson with 32 seconds left in the third quarter and Calvary finished out the scoring with a 100-yard interception return for a touchdown by Bartlett to make the final score 54-14.

The Cougars, now 6-2, will travel to play Russell Christian next Friday. Calvary will then host Freedom Academy on Oct. 24 in a game that was originally scheduled to take place against Tuscaloosa Academy.

Kemper Academy, now 5-2, will travel to take on Tensas, La., next week.