Valley Falls blanks McLouth, 33-0

When one player on a team outgains the opposing team as a whole by more than three times, that’s a pretty good sign of which team came out on top of a matchup.

Such was the case Friday in Valley Falls as Dragons senior Josh Kearney ran over, around and through the McLouth defense for more than 250 rushing yards and three touchdowns in a 33-0 Valley Falls victory on homecoming night.

To top it off, Kearney was even crowned homecoming king at halftime.

The Dragons defense also played well in holding McLouth to seven first downs in the game. McLouth finished with 101 yards before taking into account three bad snaps for a total loss of 32 yards to leave the Bulldogs with total offensive yardage of 67 on the night.

The game was scoreless through four possessions until Kearney picked up two first downs and scored on a 34-yard run with 1:26 left in the first quarter to make it 6-0 Dragons. After McLouth’s third three-plays-and-out on their first three possessions, Kearney scored on a 60-yard run on the Dragons’ next play from scrimmage and junior quarterback Mitchell Streeter booted the extra point for a 13-0 Dragons lead with 11:39 to go in the first half.

The Bulldogs picked up two first downs on their fourth possession of the game but stalled at their own 42. Kearney rushing gains and a 19-yard pass from Streeter to senior Ridge Glassel took the ball to the McLouth 17, and three plays later, Kearney scored from 7 yards out to make it 20-0 with Streeter’s extra point. That would hold as the halftime score.

McLouth picked up a first down on its first possession of the second half but turned the ball over on downs at the Valley Falls 40. The Dragons’ offense went back to work as four different rushers took the ball to the McLouth 26. Kearney ran the ball 25 yards to the Bulldogs 1 and scored on the next play to make it 27-0 with Streeter’s extra-point kick.

Dragons sophomore Alex Lederer cut the Bulldogs’ next possession short with an interception. The Dragons had another Kearney touchdown run called back by a holding penalty before turning the ball over on downs at the McLouth 21 early in the fourth quarter.

A Kearney 43-yard run set the Dragons up again on their next possession and Streeter finished the drive with a 14-yard touchdown run to make it 33-0 with 5:54 left in the game. From there, it was only a matter of time. Two more McLouth drives stalled, and Lederer came in at quarterback and had a long touchdown run called back on an illegal block penalty with time dwindling. He followed that play with a 20-yard run that ended up being the final play of the game.

Kearney finished with 23 rushes for 258 yards and 3 TDs while Streeter had 10 runs for 39 yards and a score and was 2-for-4 passing for 41 yards and an interception. Three other rushers combined for 71 yards for the Dragons as they racked up 409 yards in offense.

McLouth was led by 14 rushes for 37 yards from senior Jake Hullinger and 10 rushes for 18 yards from senior quarterback Derrick Crouse. Crouse was 7-for-17 passing for 42 yards and an interception.

Dragons coach Rod Bunde said his team played well but he still saw a couple areas of improvement as district play begins this week.

“We’ve had a lot of kids hurt but the guys stepped up and played a good game tonight,” Bunde said. “We had a couple touchdowns called back because of penalties, but the kids played hard. We’re hoping to get healthy and get a couple kids back from ineligibility going into district play.”

The win improved Valley Falls to 4-2. McLouth fell to 2-4 with the loss. The Dragons play host to Lyndon in the first game of their 2A district play Friday. McLouth plays host to JCN in the first game of those teams’ 3A district schedule.

Video of Tenpenny catch from Bears win

This week's submission from Vance Massey features a one-handed catch from Oskaloosa senior Chase Tenpenny that set up a Bears touchdown during their win over Doniphan West on the road Friday night. This one comes complete with slo-mo instant replay, in case the action is too fast the first time to catch the catch.

Jefferson County High School football scores for Friday, Oct. 10

Perry-Lecompton, 28, vs. Piper High School, 13
Oskaloosa, 22, vs. Doniphan West, 13
Jefferson County North, 19, vs. Troy, 50
Valley Falls, 33, vs. McLouth, 0
Jefferson West, 49, vs. Maur Hill Prep-Mount Academy, 0