Published: September 13, 2008 04:34 pm      

Kats’ defense rules in 46-0 thrashing

Kokomo holds opponent to minus total yards for first time since ’85

Heading into Friday night’s game at Walter Cross Field, Kokomo football coach Brett Colby had his concerns. In light of his team’s sluggish start last week and an expected soggy field where yards and points might come at a premium, he wanted to see his Kats get off to a good start.

They did that.

The finish was pretty impressive as well.



Kokomo dominated every phase of the game, beating North Central Conference foe Muncie Central 46-0. The only thing that saved this from being even bloodier was a merciful running clock after the Kats took a 39-0 lead early in the third.

“That’s the most complete game we’ve played in our two years here,” Colby said. “We weren’t very happy the way we played last week [a 54-28 win over Anderson] and we worked awfully hard in practice going into this game.”

The victory, coupled with Huntington North’s 48-6 win over Logansport, adds emphasis to Kokomo’s game at North next week. Both teams are 3-1 overall and share the NCC lead at 2-0.

As might be expected in a 46-point victory, the Kats were strong on both sides of the ball, but even on a night when Kokomo rushed for 411 yards, it was the defense that stole the show.

Central didn’t run a play in Kokomo territory until it trailed 32-0. And on that play, the Bearcats fumbled before Kokomo’s Shawn Tiggs picked up the ball and sprinted 52 yards for a TD.

Kokomo’s defense simply wouldn’t budge. In fact, it didn’t yield even a yard.

The Kats held the Bearcats to minus-6 yards total offense — the first time something like that has happened since the 1985 Kats held sectional foe Madison Heights to minus-4 yards.

“[Longtime assistant coach] Paul Hamilton said the best defense he saw at Kokomo was the ’85 team, so we named our defense the ‘wreck ’n crew’ after that defense,” Colby said.

“Last week we didn’t read our keys very well and we didn’t tackle well either,” Colby said. “I think that game woke us up. Our defense had not scored all season and tonight we had three of them.”

In addition to Tiggs’ fumble recovery, Jacob Schick had three tackles for loss and one sack amounting to a minus-29 yards. Curt Hutchins, Austin Colby, Nick Franklin, Doran Slater and Tyrone Brown were involved in tackles for loss.

The Kats’ defense entered the KHS record book as well with two safeties in a game.

Any question as to the dominate team was answered by Kokomo’s 24-0 lead with time remaining in the first quarter.

Kokomo drives of 71 yards in five plays and 13 yards on four plays were punctuated by TD runs of Braxton Shelton (59 yards) and Jairus Johnson (1 yard). A pair of two-point conversion runs had the lead at 16-0 before the Kats bagged a safety.

Central quarterback Joe Bird, backed up to the Bearcats’ 3 yard line, tossed a swing pass out into the end zone flat and as Cliff Burns and Brown came up to make the tackle, receiver Justin Darden slipped down trying to make a cut.

Brown was involved then in the Kats’ first passing touchdown of the season — coming on the Kats’ only pass of the game. T.J. Weir used good play-action and perfect accuracy to hit Brown for a 33-yard score that made it 24-0 with 1:54 left in the first quarter.

Jacob Schick and Nick Franklin combined to register a second safety midway in the second quarter, before Shelton capped a 69-yard drive with a 5-yard TD run that left the Bearcats (1-3, 1-1) in a 32-0 halftime hole.

Following halftime, Tiggs made his 52-yard dash with a fumble, before Shelton closed the scoring on a 1-yard run with 2:48 left in the third.

From that point, Kokomo used clock and backups to keep from inflicting any more damage. Kokomo’s second offensive unit took a knee three times inside Central’s 15-yard line to close the game.

Kokomo’s offensive front of Devin Schacht, Mike Barton, Doran Slater, David Sirmons, Rick Woerner, Jerell Johnson and Jake Schick provided outstanding blocking that paved the way for Shelton — a career-high 201 rushing yards — and Johnson’s 97 yard total.