Hector quarterback dominates Cutter Morning Star
New conference? No problem for the Hector Wildcats, not with Trevor Gaines on the field.
The senior quarterback, committed to Arkansas Tech, single-handedly orchestrated Hector’s 53-20 demolition of host Cutter Morning Star Friday night. Gaines threw for 339 yards and ran for 112 yards, scoring twice on quarteraback sneaks.
Gaines passed for 130 yards on Hector’s first two drives, both ending in touchdowns, one on a 13-yard pass to running back Zach White.
CMS stayed with the Pope County team for a while, Hayden Gray passing 23 yards to Michael Kimpton for a touchdown that made it 12-6. Unfortunately, that was the Eagles’ slimmest deficit of the night.
“We came out a little timid on the first two drives on offense,” CMS coach T.C. Shamel said. “On that third drive, we figured out that we could move the ball against them a little bit and have a little success.”
Gray later passed 25 yards to Tac Blevins in the back of the end zone, making it 20-13 before Hector ran off 33 consecutive points.
Hector coach Kyle Russell said Gaines’ ability to connect with his receivers triggered the Wildcats’ attack. Jadon Graham had 182 yards in receptions with two touchdowns.
“Our kids did an excellent job of taking advantage of what they were giving us,” Russell said. “They were trying to take away our running game, and I thought our quarterback and receivers did a good job of throwing and catching the ball.”
Gaines escaped the CMS pass rush on several keepers for positive yardage. Running back James Sims gained 38 yards on one drive and scored two touchdowns.
“Sims is not the fastest guy, but he’s a hard, physical runner,” Russell said. “He gets the tough yards that we need. Whenever we’re able to throw the ball and stuff like that, it opens up a little bit for a guy to get in there and hit in between the tackles.”
Hector led by 40 after three quarters, and the game ended under the mercy rule with a continuous running clock. Hector improved to 4-0 in its 2A-5 opener, CMS dropping to 2-1 a week after defeating Bismarck 40-21 on the road. The Eagles play at Quitman Friday night.
“We just couldn’t match them,” Shamel said. “We had those two drives in the first half when it was 27-13 or 20-13. We were in the middle of the field and just couldn’t finish.”
Blevins finished with 66 receiving yards and running back James Butler, a junior transfer from Bald Knob, ran for 90 yards and a score.
“We’re glad we got him,” Shamel said of Butler. “We’re looking forward to this year and the next year with him. He’s an awesome kid.”
Going into next week’s game at Quitman, Shamel said he is going to focus on tightening up his wide receivers’ routes and his secondary’s coverage.
“We gotta know our assignments and where to line up,” Shamel said. “We gotta know our routes. We ran some offroutes tonight where if you run them right, we’re wide open. Defensively, we gotta know our coverages.”
As for Hector, Russell said he is hoping to continue his team’s “fast and physical” approach into next week, when the Wildcats host Conway Christian.
“That’s our motto, offensively and defensively,” Russell said. “We like to hurry with things like that. We’re hoping that we can keep growing on that and take that with us.”