Shiloh Christian’s defense dominates Gentry 38-6

GENTRY — Shiloh Christian used a blocked field goal and a three-touchdown second quarter to rout Gentry 38-6 on Friday night.

Saints running back Jaret Russ finished the night with 112 yards on 16 carries and two touchdowns, and quarterback Landon Brown threw for two more scores and ran for another to lead Shiloh Christian (5-2, 3-1) over the Pioneers (4-3, 2-2), but it was the Saints’ defense that proved to be the difference-maker in the win.

On the opening drive, Gentry ran it down to Shiloh’s 5-yard line on the legs of quarterback Jon Faulkenberry and running back Myles McFerron. What looked to be a promising drive quickly took a different turn for the Pioneers, who struggled to even make it back to the line of scrimmage on the next two plays.

Shiloh Christian’s goal-line stand ended with Saints defenders tipping Gentry kicker Garrett Matthews’ field-goal attempt. On the ensuing possession for Shiloh, Brown hit wide-open receiver Blake Thomson for a 66-yard score.

Gentry’s next possession ended in similar fashion. The Pioneers made it to the Shiloh 23, but dropped passes by the Gentry receivers led to a turnover on downs.

“I thought the Golden Domes got in our head a little bit; we dropped some balls we don’t normally drop,” Gentry coach Paul Ernest said.

That would be the last time the Pioneers came close to scoring until the end of the game.

“Defense did a great job of not allowing them to score early,” Shiloh Christian coach Jeff Conaway said. “They had a few drives there where, I felt, they offensively got a few things going and our defense did a great job to stop them.”

Shiloh Christian controlled the tempo of the game, after the first quarter, to a pace the Saints, led by Brown and Russ, would thrive in for the remainder of the night. The team only ran nine plays in the first quarter compared to 48 the rest of the game.

“We want to dictate the tempo. We want to be able to go fast and run plays quickly when we want to,” Conaway said. “We also want to be able to slow it down and control it. I felt like we were able to do both tonight.”

Russ found the end zone twice, and Brown hit receiver Jake Nelson for a score on a seven-yard screen play as part of an efficient second quarter.

But it was that blocked field goal that turned out to make the biggest impact in the game for the Saints, Conaway said.

“That was a big momentum change for us,” he said.

“Defense did a great job of not allowing them to score early. They had a few drives there where, I felt, they offensively got a few things going and our defense did a great job to stop them.” — Shiloh coach Jeff Conaway