APA routs Bear Grass Charter in 11-man contest
Story by Keith Spence / Special to ENC Moments
Arendell Parrott Academy proved Friday night that a good football team doesn’t care how many players are on the field.
The Patriots ventured into 11-man territory for their one and only time this season and made it look easy, hammering 1A Bear Grass Charter 48-6 in a mercy-rule shortened contest at Hodges Field.
APA returns to the 8-man game next week when its visits Halifax Academy.
“Our 11-man games are a lot of fun and something we look forward to every year,” Parrott coach Matt Beaman said. “But the bottom line is that football is football. You must execute, you have to block and tackle, you can’t turn the ball over. We did a lot of things well tonight, and it showed in the final score.”
Unsurprisingly, switching from 8-to-11 man with just one week of practice, it took a couple of possessions before the Patriots got their footing.
Bear Grass (1-1) received the opening kickoff and scored three players later when Bryce Carlisle took an option pitch down the left sideline and outraced the defense 60 yards for a touchdown.
“We struggled getting lined up defensively on a few plays in the first quarter,” Beaman said. “Once we worked the kinks out, the defense played great.”
Leading 6-0 less than 2 minutes into the game, the Bears would not score again.
Parrott answered with a 60-yard drive of its own, ending on Morgan McPhaul’s 9-yard TD run with 8:43 left in the opening period.
Bear Grass put together another good drive late in the quarter, marching to the APA 27 before Garrett Gilgo picked off Bears’ quarterback Brayden Taylor, a huge, momentum-swinging turnover.
Bear Grass ran just one more play from Patriot territory the rest of the game.
The APA offense, meanwhile, found its stride in the second quarter and began to pour it on.
Five possessions in the period ended with four touchdowns, three by McPhaul from 12, 2, and 68 yards out.
The 6-2, 230-pound senior bulldozer finished with 155 yards and 4 scores on just 8 carries, all in the first half.
The final TD of the first half came in the closing seconds when QB Cole Dawson hooked up with Ashton Brinson on a 64-yard scoring strike just 4.6 seconds from halftime.
That score was set up by Mason McIlveen’s interception at the APA 40.
The third quarter started where the first half ended.
One the first play of the second half, Brinson took a handoff 60 yards to paydirt after Beaman changed the play at the line of scrimmage to counter the Bears’ unbalanced defensive set-up.
“They loaded up the right side, so we just audibled and went the other way,” Beaman said.
Three minutes later, Brinson reappeared and created a running clock by taking an interception 42 yards to the house to make the score 48-6.
“It was a fun, amazing game,” said Brinson, who tallied the Patriots’ final 3 TD’s after McPhaul scored the first 4. “We were a little nervous at the start, but once we settled in it became just another football game. It didn’t matter if we had 8 or 11 out there. Once we got the momentum, we didn’t let it go.”
Despite running a limited number of plays in the second half due to the running clock, APA still rushed for 302 yards, while limiting the Bears to 158 total yards, 60 of which came on one play.
“I couldn’t be prouder of this team,” Beaman said. “We split our two previous 11-man games with Bear Grass, and both we’re close. Tonight we just played like we had something to prove against a very good team.”
ARENDELL PARROTT 48, BEAR GRASS CHARTER 6
Bear Grass Charter 6 0 0 0—6
Parrott Academy 7 27 14 0—48
First Quarter
BGC—Bryce Carlisle 60 run (kick blocked), 10:12
APA—Morgan McPhaul 9 run (Marshall Taylor kick), 8:43
Second Quarter
APA—McPhaul 12 run (Taylor kick), 6:24
APA—McPhaul 2 run (Taylor kick), 5:46
APA—McPhaul 68 run (Taylor kick), 2:27
APA—Ashton Brinson 64 pass from Cole Dawson (run failed), :4.6
Third Quarter
APA—Brinson 60 run (Taylor kick), 11:47
APA—Brinson 42 interception return (Taylor kick), 8:15
BGC APA
First Downs 6 14
Rushes-yards 26-133 27-302
Passing 3-11-3 4-8-0
Passing yards 25 92
Total yards 158 394
Punts-avg. 4-31.8 1-33.0
Penalties 5-35 3-25
Fumbles-lost 2-1 1-0
Individual Statistics
RUSHING—Bear Grass Charter: Bryce Carlisle 3-61, Shane Lanier 8-50, Brayden Taylor 8-10, Ty Price 5-8, Ethan Cooper 2-4. Parrott Academy: Morgan McPhaul 8-155, Ashton Brinson 3-88, Aaron Jones 2-34, Caleb Sanderson 4-13, Cade Mixon 1-5, Jaylen Soloman 3-4, Cole Dawson 6-3.
PASSING—Bear Grass Charter: Taylor 3-11-3 25. Parrott Academy: Dawson 4-8-0 92.
RECEIVING—Bear Grass Charter: Carlisle 2-15, Cayden Council 1-10. Parrott Academy: Brinson 1-64, Jones 2-22, Paxton Riley 1-6.
Story by Keith Spence / Special to ENC Moments
Arendell Parrott Academy proved Friday night that a good football team doesn’t care how many players are on the field.
The Patriots ventured into 11-man territory for their one and only time this season and made it look easy, hammering 1A Bear Grass Charter 48-6 in a mercy-rule shortened contest at Hodges Field.
APA returns to the 8-man game next week when its visits Halifax Academy.
“Our 11-man games are a lot of fun and something we look forward to every year,” Parrott coach Matt Beaman said. “But the bottom line is that football is football. You must execute, you have to block and tackle, you can’t turn the ball over. We did a lot of things well tonight, and it showed in the final score.”
Unsurprisingly, switching from 8-to-11 man with just one week of practice, it took a couple of possessions before the Patriots got their footing.
Bear Grass (1-1) received the opening kickoff and scored three players later when Bryce Carlisle took an option pitch down the left sideline and outraced the defense 60 yards for a touchdown.
“We struggled getting lined up defensively on a few plays in the first quarter,” Beaman said. “Once we worked the kinks out, the defense played great.”
Leading 6-0 less than 2 minutes into the game, the Bears would not score again.
Parrott answered with a 60-yard drive of its own, ending on Morgan McPhaul’s 9-yard TD run with 8:43 left in the opening period.
Bear Grass put together another good drive late in the quarter, marching to the APA 27 before Garrett Gilgo picked off Bears’ quarterback Brayden Taylor, a huge, momentum-swinging turnover.
Bear Grass ran just one more play from Patriot territory the rest of the game.
The APA offense, meanwhile, found its stride in the second quarter and began to pour it on.
Five possessions in the period ended with four touchdowns, three by McPhaul from 12, 2, and 68 yards out.
The 6-2, 230-pound senior bulldozer finished with 155 yards and 4 scores on just 8 carries, all in the first half.
The final TD of the first half came in the closing seconds when QB Cole Dawson hooked up with Ashton Brinson on a 64-yard scoring strike just 4.6 seconds from halftime.
That score was set up by Mason McIlveen’s interception at the APA 40.
The third quarter started where the first half ended.
One the first play of the second half, Brinson took a handoff 60 yards to paydirt after Beaman changed the play at the line of scrimmage to counter the Bears’ unbalanced defensive set-up.
“They loaded up the right side, so we just audibled and went the other way,” Beaman said.
Three minutes later, Brinson reappeared and created a running clock by taking an interception 42 yards to the house to make the score 48-6.
“It was a fun, amazing game,” said Brinson, who tallied the Patriots’ final 3 TD’s after McPhaul scored the first 4. “We were a little nervous at the start, but once we settled in it became just another football game. It didn’t matter if we had 8 or 11 out there. Once we got the momentum, we didn’t let it go.”
Despite running a limited number of plays in the second half due to the running clock, APA still rushed for 302 yards, while limiting the Bears to 158 total yards, 60 of which came on one play.
“I couldn’t be prouder of this team,” Beaman said. “We split our two previous 11-man games with Bear Grass, and both we’re close. Tonight we just played like we had something to prove against a very good team.”
ARENDELL PARROTT 48, BEAR GRASS CHARTER 6
Bear Grass Charter 6 0 0 0—6
Parrott Academy 7 27 14 0—48
First Quarter
BGC—Bryce Carlisle 60 run (kick blocked), 10:12
APA—Morgan McPhaul 9 run (Marshall Taylor kick), 8:43
Second Quarter
APA—McPhaul 12 run (Taylor kick), 6:24
APA—McPhaul 2 run (Taylor kick), 5:46
APA—McPhaul 68 run (Taylor kick), 2:27
APA—Ashton Brinson 64 pass from Cole Dawson (run failed), :4.6
Third Quarter
APA—Brinson 60 run (Taylor kick), 11:47
APA—Brinson 42 interception return (Taylor kick), 8:15
BGC APA
First Downs 6 14
Rushes-yards 26-133 27-302
Passing 3-11-3 4-8-0
Passing yards 25 92
Total yards 158 394
Punts-avg. 4-31.8 1-33.0
Penalties 5-35 3-25
Fumbles-lost 2-1 1-0
Individual Statistics
RUSHING—Bear Grass Charter: Bryce Carlisle 3-61, Shane Lanier 8-50, Brayden Taylor 8-10, Ty Price 5-8, Ethan Cooper 2-4. Parrott Academy: Morgan McPhaul 8-155, Ashton Brinson 3-88, Aaron Jones 2-34, Caleb Sanderson 4-13, Cade Mixon 1-5, Jaylen Soloman 3-4, Cole Dawson 6-3.
PASSING—Bear Grass Charter: Taylor 3-11-3 25. Parrott Academy: Dawson 4-8-0 92.
RECEIVING—Bear Grass Charter: Carlisle 2-15, Cayden Council 1-10. Parrott Academy: Brinson 1-64, Jones 2-22, Paxton Riley 1-6.
