Bismarck denies CMS, 28-22
BISMARCK — The Class 3A Bismarck Lions opened up the 2018 football season with a 28-22 victory at home Friday against the Class 2A Cutter Morning Star Eagles.
The Lions (1-0) led throughout the game, but a 70-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by sophomore Keshawn Blevins made the score 28-14 in favor of Bismarck with 5:20 on the clock in the third. A failed 2-point try by the Eagles (0-1) kept the score at 28-14.
“We were playing on the road and I’ve got a lot of young kids,” said CMS head coach T.C. Shamel. “Sophomores and juniors are playing most of my positions. A lot of sophomores, sophomore quarterbacks, sophomore receivers, running back, all over the field.
“They were a little bit nervous to begin with … We had a few mistakes that kind of hurt us. But Bismarck did too, based on what I saw, both teams had five turnovers a piece, I think it was. We just didn’t capitalize early.”
Sophomore quarterback Sam Moore scored a rushing touchdown from one yard out with nine minutes left in the game. Moore completed a pass to junior Matthew Cook for a 2-point conversion to make the score 28-22.
Bismarck led, 20-0, in the first half.
“Being down 20-0 on the road at halftime, and then coming back out and actually making it a game, I was really proud of my kids for fighting in the second half,” Shamel said. “Especially not having many seniors on the team, that was encouraging.”
The Eagles made a stop to force a turnover on downs and take over on their own 13-yard line with 1:04 left in the game. Cook caught a 41yard pass to give the Eagles hope.
Bismarck’s Steven Roberson came up clutch with an interception with 39 seconds left in the final quarter to secure the victory for the Lions.
“Well, we got the win so I’m happy about that,” said Bismarck head coach D.J. Keithley. “I really think that we did well in the first half, but I thought we got relaxed. I think we thought they were going to lay down, so I was a little disappointed in our efforts in the second half. Luckily, we picked it up that last defensive drive and kept them from scoring so it saved the win for us.”
Bismarck quickly established dominance in the first quarter, as junior quarterback James Kegley completed a pass to senior wide receiver Dylan Clayton for a 20-yard touchdown. The Lions took a 7-0 lead with less than 3:30 left in the first quarter.
The Lions refuses to let up, scoring the second touchdown of the game on their next drive. Clayton scored on a 41-yard touchdown pass from Kegley to finish off a two-play scoring drive to make the score 14-0 with seconds left in the opening quarter.
“When you play a lot of young people, that’s what’s going to hap-
pen and they just have to learn on the go sometimes,” Shamel said. “We had several that could’ve played better and they’ll tell you that, too … We had a couple of starters on our offensive line go down with cramps, and we didn’t get back one of them at all, so we had to rotate a lot of guys in that have never played football before.
“Overall, there were several kids. We just came out in the second half and were going to try to make it a ball game. In the end, we did make it a game.”
Clayton scored again midway through the second quarter on an 89-yard touchdown run. Bismarck led, 20-0, with 3:15 to go until halftime after a failed extra point try.
“Dylan Clayton, our senior, right out had a good touchdown and several good catches,” Keithley noted.
“We were unable to play a scrimmage game this year,” Shamel said. “It didn’t work out … We normally play at Jessieville’s jamboree, but it just happened to be the same time as our Bismarck game. So, they had a scrimmage with Perryville, which helped them a little bit, obviously.”
Cook scored on a seven-yard touchdown run less than four minutes into the second half to give the Eagles their first score of the game. Moore completed a pass to Cook to make the score 20-8 after the 2-point conversion.
“It’s hard to go off what we did,” Keithley said. “I thought we played a little bit lax. If we’re going to go far, we’re going to have to really step it up and play better than what we did. I’m happy to get the win, I’m happy to start the season off like that … You win a scrimmage game and then you win your first game, so, so far so good.
“We’re going in the right direction, but we still got a long way to go. The question mark is still hanging above us about how we’re really going to finish out because we still got to do this once we get to conference. We’ve got a tough conference, so there’s going to be some tough opponents we have to get past.”
Roberson caught an 18-yard touchdown pass with 5:34 remaining in the third. Keithley said Roberson stepped up as a running back.
“He played really hard,” Keithley said. “He’s not really big, but he does exactly what you want him to do. I thought he stepped up towards the end when we needed our running game to help hold them off and work that clock down.”
Bismarck will have an edge in playing time for a second straight week on Friday. The Lions will travel to Baptist Prep for the Eagles’ season opener.
Cutter Morning Star has the official Week 1 off before resuming play on Sept. 7 at home against Rose Bud. The Ramblers also did not play in Week 0, but will start the season on Friday against Quitman.