Tigers pounce on Patriots 42-8

Monday, September 20, 2004
Thorne Penrod (23) follows his blocker, Brad Robison (72), during Nevada's 42-8 win over East Newton in their home opener at Logan Field Friday night. Penrod was one of three different Tigers to score touchdowns in the win. Meanwhile, the offensive line helped Nevada to 249 total rushing yards.

By Joe Warren

Nevada Herald

The Nevada Tigers were feeling very patriotic Friday night when they hosted East Newton High School.

But they were not feeling hospitable, as they sent the Patriots home with a 42-8 defeat in the Nevada home opener.

The Tigers rushed for almost 250 yards and also had a good contribution from the passing game as they dominated from the onset.

After forcing a punt on East Newton's first possession to start the game, Nevada drove 61 yards in eight plays, capping it with a 25-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Justin Reed to tailback Heath Baker for the game's first score.

From there the route was on.

The Tigers got a 1-yard scoring run from Baker on the next possession, then had three touchdowns from fullback Keith Overton as they dictated play on both sides of the ball.

In all the Tigers had 356 yards of total offense despite not playing starters for most of the fourth quarter. Couple that with only allowing 111 yards from East Newton and it was easy to see why the Tigers ended up on top.

"We came in expecting to be successful," Nevada coach John Skeans said afterwards. "The kids played hard."

Skeans said the Tigers did what was necessary to bounce back after losing to El Dorado Springs 7-6 last week.

"I think we took another step in learning about ourselves as a team," he said.

There was no hangover for the Tigers after the close loss. Against East Newton, the offensive line opened holes, the running backs ran hard and the defense was stiff as a board.

Sprinkle in some timely play-action passes and the Tigers had the recipe for a big win.

"We felt like we had some plays and schemes that would be successful," Skeans said. "We just continued to work hard."

Reed returned to the lineup after missing last week's game with a back injury.

The quarterback looked crisp running the offense, even though his timing was a little off on deep throws.

Four times Nevada receivers had gotten behind the East Newton secondary on play-action fakes by Reed. Each time the throw just missed.

The first came on Nevada's first possession of the second quarter. Reed faked a handoff and rolled out to his left. Willie Bailey was open down the left sideline and Reed's throw was a little short. Bailey adjusted nicely by cutting in front of the defender but could not come up with the catch.

Two plays later Skeans called another deep pass, this time with tight end Eric Atkinson running a seam route. Atkinson was open for what would have been a score, but the throw was a little long this time.

Reed missed Atkinson again on a similar play a couple plays later in the drive, but again the pass sailed a little long.

Reed also missed Nate Uttinger on an "out and up" route down the right sideline toward the end of the first half, but the long incompletions were the only blemishes on an otherwise outstanding performance by the junior quarterback.

"He looked sharp," Skeans said about his starting signal-caller. He also said that Reed's timing was likely affected by his previous week of missed action.

Skeans was particularly happy with the offensive line, which did well in both the run game and in pass protection.

"The line did a nice job," he said. "We did a much better job of controlling the line of scrimmage."

Thorne Penrod also scored for Nevada. Penrod had a 29-yard touchdown run during the fourth quarter.

Nevada is now 2-1 this season, but the "easy" part of their schedule is over. The Tigers travel to Webb City to take on the Cardinals this week.

Nevada will not return home again until they host Carthage Oct. 1.

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