MELVERN – Putting 43 points on the scoreboard would seem like a good recipe to pull off an upset against an undefeated opponent.
The Altoona-Midway High School Jets did just that against Marais Des Cygnes Valley here Friday, but it wasn’t enough. The host Trojans scored 66 points of their own en route to a convincing 66-43 victory in Kansas 6-Man District 1 football.
As a result, Marais Des Cygnes Valley moved its season record to 4-0 and remained unbeaten on the season. The Trojans are 2-0 in district play. Meanwhile, Altoona-Midway fell to 1-2 overall and 0-2 in district games.
The Jets will try to bring their season record back to .500 when they hit the road to LeRoy this Friday to square off against Southern Coffey County in another 6-Man District 1 contest. The Titans are 0-4 overall and 0-2 in district action. SCC has been shut out the past two weeks and has been outscored 193-35 on the season.
“Tonight we fell short to a very solid Marais Des Cygnes Valley team,” said AMHS Coach Randy Almond. “We were plagued by four fumbles, and MDCV also recovered three onside kicks, which did not help. We put points on the board, but you cannot give a good team that many extra opportunities with the ball.”
“The boys battled and they never gave up, but we are very aware of what we need to work on this week in preparation for our game with Southern Coffey County,” Almond continued. “It’s not like we couldn’t move the ball … we put up 43 points. But you cannot turn the ball over and give up big plays. That was our demise tonight. We will get better.”
MDCV showed why they are undefeated, jumping to an 18-6 first-quarter lead and increasing that advantage to 44-25 at halftime. The Trojans erased any doubt about the game’s outcome by outscoring AMHS 22-6 in the third period to go up 66-31. The Jets tacked on two scores in the final quarter to close the final margin.
William Stackhouse led the Jets as he scored four touchdowns and also rushed for 152 yards on 18 carries. Kage Beck tallied a pair of touchdowns and chipped in 42 yards on the ground, while Kieran Foster and Joey Lamendola rushed for 10 and eight yards, respectively. Lamendola also accounted for the other Jet TD.
Beck and Stackhouse each hauled in five receptions, with Beck covering 65 yards and Stackhouse 50. Lamendola had two catches for 21 yards, while Taj Chism also had one reception for four yards.
Foster accounted for 128 passing yards on 12 completions, while Stackhouse added one completion for 12 yards. Foster and Lamendola led the defensive stats with nine and seven tackles respectively. Beck and Stackhouse were each in on five tackles, followed by Tyler Peyton with four, Chism with three, and Chance Carter with one.