The Murray Mustangs fell 48-12 Friday to the Colo-Nesco Royals in their second game of the season.
Murray was unable to score in the first quarter, with Colo-Nesco bringing the game to 14-0, with another 12 points on the board in the second quarter. A touchdown by Nolan Gannon on a 32 yard reception from Caden Page in the second quarter put Murray on the board with 31 seconds left in the half; an attempt at a two-point conversion pass failed. Kace Patton earned Murray their next six points in the third quarter with a 19-yard reception from Page; another two-point conversion pass was no good. Murray did not score again for the rest of the contest.
Defensively, Gannon led in tackles with nine total, seven solo with one tackle for loss. Titus Barber followed with five total tackles and three solo of a team collective 38 tackles and 26 solo tackles.
Murray coaches reported that Colo-Nesco’s Breckin Clatt had a good night running the ball with increasing speed. Murray had him contained several times, but Clatt broke tackles and progressed as the game went on. The Murray defense did a good job against passes, but struggled with physical linemen and wrapping up.**
Offensively, Murray did a nice job of moving the ball through the air, but struggled to block Royal linebackers. Costly turnovers, key penalties and missed tackles in the first half of the contest left the Mustangs behind by 20 and working uphill the rest of the game.
The game saw a new Murray school record in 8-man football - Kace Patton had 16 receptions, breaking the 11 reception record set in 2011 by Cody Scroggie. Scroggie earned the then-record 11 receptions in the state semifinals against Clarksville, with a repeat number the following year in the state semifinals against Don Bosco.
Murray will host Bedford (1-0) this Friday with the game starting at 7 p.m.
Game stats
Points by quarter
C-N - 14, 12, 6, 16 – 48
M - 0, 6, 6, 0 – 12
PASSING (passes-attempts-interceptions)
Caden Page - 21–36–1 for 207 yards
RUSHING (attempts-yards)
Page - 13– -1
Kendrick Mastin - 10–10
Kace Patton - 5–2
Nolan Gannon - 4–16
Team - 32–23
RECEIVING (receptions-yards-touchdowns-longest reception for TD)
Keegan Chew - 1–9
Patton - 16 –166–1–19
Ayden Lamb - 1–1
Gannon - 3–34–1–32
Team - 3–207–2–32 LONG
DEFENSE (total tackles–solo tackles–tackles for loss)
Chew - 2.0–1
Page - 4.5 –3
Mastin - 3.0–2
Patton - 3.0–2
Seth McMurry - 1.0–1
Lamb - 2.5–1
Gannon - 9.0–7–1.0
Grady Mongar - 1.0–1
Austin Peterson - 3.0–2
Drew Hiatt - 4.0–3–1.0
Titus Barber - 5.0–3–2.0
Team - 38.0–26–4.0
KICK RETURNS (kick returns–yards)
Lamb - 2–45
KICKING (kickoffs-–yards)
Peterson - 3–70
PUNTING (punts–yards)
Barber - 5–148