0
0
BRENTWOOD – Homecoming provided a festive atmosphere for Brentwood Academy, but visiting Montgomery Bell Academy did not provide the ideal houseguest.
Johnothan Moore ripped through the Eagle defense for 194 yards and three touchdowns as MBA claimed a 35-21 victory at Carlton Flatt Field on Friday.
MBA (6-0) jumped out to a 14-10 lead in the opening quarter behind a Marcel Reed-to-Claiborne Richards connection for nine yards and a 41-yard run by Moore. The Big Red then provided an answer for each Brentwood Academy response.
George MacIntyre extended a play with his legs and found Meyer Pereira for a 39-yard touchdown on the first play of the second quarter. MBA’s answer was a 10-play, 80-yard drive that ended with a screen pass from Reed to Blake Ragsdale as the Big Red led 21-7 with 6:16 left in the first half.
“You’re seeing the MBA that people should be expecting,” Reed said. “We come out with a powerhouse team every year. We just execute what we’re taught week in and week out at practice. I think we have the tools on the outside and on the inside. The (offensive line’s) great, the running backs are great, but we can throw the ball if we need to.”
Moore’s second touchdown, a 49-yarder, pushed MBA’s lead to 28-10 with 2:06 to play in the period.
“His heart – the kids love him,” MBA head coach Marty Euverard said of Moore. “He’s just such a good person and he works so hard. Going into the season, I didn’t know how he would be being the starting guy. But he’s been outstanding.”
George Laster hit a pair of 30-yard field goals in the period, the second of which ended the half with the Eagles trailing 28-13.
“He’s meant a lot,” Reed said of Moore’s performance. “J-Mo is a great running back, very under-the-radar. He’s a big back who’s hard to tackle when he gets in the open. He can take off and it just opens up for the pass game.”
Brentwood Academy’s defense helped keep the Eagles (4-2) in the game in the third quarter, as an interception by AJ Barbat set up a 1-yard touchdown run by Deuce Scott. MacIntyre found Ian Scott for the two-point conversion that pulled the Eagles within seven early in the third quarter.
MBA’s response was chewing clock, as each of the next three Big Red series went more than four minutes. The first two failed to yield any points, but the third one – a 12-play, 58-yard march that ate up 7:26 in the fourth quarter – ended in Moore’s third touchdown, a 1-yard plunge that gave MBA its final margin with 2:53 to play.
“We’re certainly not perfect,” Euverard said. “We made mistakes, I made mistakes, especially in the second half – we had the big turnover there and got (Brentwood Academy) in the game. But what I like is we didn’t flinch. We put together a couple of big drives, especially the last drive eating the clock up and scoring a touchdown.”
MBA outgained Brentwood Academy by a 431-252 margin and held the Eagles to 26 rushing yards as a team, though Deuce Scott did manage 64 yards on 14 carries.
Ian Scott led the Eagles with four catches for 88 yards. The victory marked the first time MBA has won back-to-back games over the Eagles since the Big Red won the 2013 and 2014 meetings.
