Tigers too strong for Mustangs

With both Murray and Lenox vying for their first win of the season, the Tigers proved to be too much for the Mustangs to overcome as they took the win 64-12.

The first quarter of Friday’s game was a series of back and forths before the first touchdown was made. Lenox received the ball, but their first two plays were stopped short by defensive tackles. Despite rushes made by quarterback Laramie Stoaks to gain Lenox yardage, Murray was able to stop the visiting team on fourth-and-4 by taking down Kolben Robinson to turn the ball over on downs.

Murray quarterback Keegan Chew achieved two first downs on rushes before the Mustangs were halted by Lenox. On third-and-10, a pass to Jaxon Darby fell incomplete but a call on the defense for pass interference gave Murray the down. On the next play, AJ Clarke made it far enough for another down, but a chop block call on Murray on the next play backed the Mustangs up to Lenox’s 30-yard line. An attempt to pass to Clarke on fourth-and-21 fell incomplete, turning the ball back over to Lenox.

With 2:11 left on the clock, Lenox’s Wylie Brokaw made it in for a 16-yard touchdown, followed by a two-point run by Stoaks. Back in possession, Murray was unable to find another first down. Punting on lack of downs, Brokaw made the first down for Lenox as the clock ran out on the first quarter.

Starting at Murray’s 27-yard line, Stoaks made a run in the first 10 seconds of the quarter for another touchdown; a pass attempt to Brogan Petersen was broken up by Wylee Wright. The next six and one-half minutes would result in slow movement of Murray making gains down the field, before a fumble by Keaton Brammer was recovered by Petersen.

Murray tackles and offensive penalties held up Lenox, before a run by Brokaw down the sidelines and around Murray put him in for another Lenox touchdown; a run up the middle by Robinson widened the gap 22-0. Less than 20 seconds later on Murray’s first play, a pass to Clarke had him sidestepping tackles as he ran in for a 65-yard touchdown; an attempt for 2 after by Chew had him stopped just short of the goal line. Brokaw returned the Murray goal line with a 45-yard touchdown about 16 seconds later by skirting the defense with a successful 2-point conversion after by Robinson.

The ball back in Murray’s hands was turned over on lack of downs, and while Lenox was able to close to scoring, on fourth-and-4 Stoaks was taken down by Ace Neisemier for Murray to take back over with just over 30 seconds left in the quarter and unable to score before time ran out to go into halftime 30-6.

Coming back from halftime, touchdowns by both teams within the first three minutes soon ended in a stalemate down near Murray’s end zone.

After a punt by Murray on lack of downs, Lenox picked up the ball at their 31-yard line and made a series of plays down to the goal line, where Murray was able to hold them with Nolan Gannon and Wright taking down Lenox ball carriers. On fourth-and-goal, a pass from Stoaks to Petersen fell incomplete in the end zone, though pass interference had Lenox rerunning the play. A faked handoff had Stoaks driving for the goal line, but was stopped short by Wyatt Patton forcing Lenox to turn over the ball. Unable to make much forward momentum, Murray had to punt the ball away, which was returned by Petersen who was taken down inside the 10-yard line by Chew. On second-and-goal, Brokaw punched it in for his fifth touchdown of the night.

Less than a minute after getting the ball back, Chew’s pass was intercepted by Brokaw who ran back for a 27-yard touchdown. With a 52-12 Lenox lead, the clock became a running clock.

With younger players coming in for the bulk of the fourth quarter, Lenox secured 12 more points with both 2-point conversion attempts failed for the final score of 64-12.

Murray will take on the 3-0 Lamoni Demons tomorrow for Lamoni’s homecoming.

More photos from the game available here: cnanews-photos.smugmug.com/Sports/20252026-sports/Murray-v-Lenox-football

TEAM STATS

Lenox 62, Murray 12

LEN 8 22 22 12

MUR 0 6 6 0

LEN MUR

Rushes-yards 38-402 29-98

Passing 5-8-0 8-21-1

Passing yards 78 127

Total yards 480 225

Punts-avg. 0-0 6-24.2

Fumbles lost 1-0 2-1

INDIVIDUAL STATS

RUSHING – MUR: Bentley Smith 1-(-5); Keaton Brammer 2-(-1); Keegan Chew 16-92; Sam Romero 1-0; Wylee Wright 8-12; Nolan Gannon 1-0. LEN: Laramie Stoaks 10-71, 1 TD; Ashton Leonard 1-13; Kolben Robinson 10-75; Wylie Brokaw 11-192, 6 TD; Brandon Ramirez 1-2; Colton Haidsiak 1-8; Layne Beck 4-41, 1 TD.

PASSING – MUR: Chew 7-17 for 121 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT; Smith 1-4 for 6 yards. LEN: Stoaks 4-7 for 74 yards; Brogan Peterson 1-1 for 4 yards, 1 TD.

RECEIVING – MUR: Brammer 3-2; AJ Clarke 3-83, 2 TD; Grant Flaherty 1-6, Gannon 1-36. LEN: Robinson 1-3; Levi Fitzgerald 1-21; Liam Douglas 1-4, 1 TD; Petersen 2-50.

TACKLES (total-solo) –MUR: Brammer 4 ½-4; Chew 4-3; Clarke 4-3; Marques Smith Jr 3-3; Jaxon Darby 1-2; Romero 2-1; Wright 3-1; Gannon 5-4; Wyatt Patton 6 ½-5; Jack Myers 1 ½-1; Ely Yoder 1-0; Grady Mongar 2-2; Trevor Eckels 3-1; Brayden Klein ½-0; Ace Neisemier 1 ½-1; Karina Romero ½-0. LEN: Stoaks 2 ½-2; Leonard ½-0; Gabriel Robles 3-2; Robinson ½-0; Brokaw 6-3; Jayden Arnold 6 ½-5; Mack Parrish ½-0; Ramirez ½-0; Petersen 5-4; Chase O’Riley ½-0; Haidsiak 1 ½-1; Cade Cordell 1-1; Beck 2 ½-2; Jordan Castor 2-1; Cash Brammer 8-4; Isaiah Padilla ½-0; Kenneth Jones 1-1.

TACKLES FOR LOSS – MUR: Chew ½; Gannon ½. LEN: Arnold 4 ½; Haidsiak ½; Castor 1; Brammer 2; Padilla ½; Jones 1.

SACKS – MUR: 0. LEN: Arnold 2; Castor 1.

INTERCEPTIONS – MUR: 0. LEN: Petersen 2.

FUMBLE RECOVERIES – MUR: 0. LEN: Peterson 2.

PUNTING – MUR: Chew 6-145. LEN: 0.

2PT CONVERSION – MUR: 0. LEN: Stoaks 2; Robinson 3.