Cards can’t stop Leopards on homecoming
HASKELL – On homecoming night for Harmony Grove, the winless Cardinals would look to try and turn their season around. However, the visiting Malvern Leopards (3-2,
2-0) would spoil the show and roll to an easy 43-0 victory. The loss would drop the Cardinals to 0-5 overall and 0-2 in a tough 7-4A Conference.
After receiving the opening kickoff, the Cardinals would have some success marching it into Malvern territory, but would fail to score any points after turning it over on downs. Malvern wouldn’t have any answers on their first offensive possession either after junior Cardinal Wes Lock came up with a big stop on third down.
Neither team would get anything going after one quarter of play, but Malvern would soon begin to get things going on both sides
of the ball. On their second offensive possession, Malvern senior running back Jacobe Hart would take it in from 20 yards out to make it 7-0 Leopards.
After a second Cardinal turnover on downs, Malvern senior Dante Reed would catch a short pass from sophomore Cedric Simmons and take it 52 yards for the touchdown. Harmony Grove would go three-and-out, leading to a 49-yard touchdown run for Malvern’s Simmons to put the Leopards up 21-0 at halftime.
The second half wouldn’t get much better for the Cardinals as Malvern would score right out of the break on a 34-yard Simmons completion to senior Malique Reliford to make it 28-0 with 10 minutes left in the third. Harmony Grove’s offensive woes would continue as well, failing to get into Malvern territory the rest of the game.
Malvern would score again, with 2:51 left in the quarter, on a 1-yard touchdown rush from Hart. The extra point attempt would be botched, but Malvern would score anyway to make it 36-0.
The final scoring of the night would come on a 52-yard rush by senior Keith Caradine, leading to an easy Leopard victory.
The Cardinals will be back in action at Sykes Stadium next Friday night as the welcome cross-town rival Bauxite (1-4, 0-2). Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.