Booneville steamrolls Mansfield

BOONEVILLE — Mansfield scored first in its showdown against No. 1 Booneville, but it would be the latter who walked away with their perfect record still intact after the Bearcats erupted for five touchdowns in the sec- ond quarter to fuel its 55-6 win on Friday night.

Booneville’s Carson Ray scored four touchdowns on the ground and Evan Schlinker threw for two more to lead the Bearcats’ offense in the win.

Both teams struggled in the first quarter to generate much offense with either team failing to reach the red zone except for one time. Booneville (7-0, 4-0 3A-1) then strung along five straight possessions that ended in a touchdown after the team took advantage of some turnovers from Mansfield (6-1, 3-1) and played to its strengths on offense in the run game.

“What they were doing defensively was giving us some trouble early,” Booneville

coach Scott Hyatt said. “They did a good job of defending that, so we had to come back and run some other stuff.”

Booneville’s defense line terrorized the Mansfield backfield for most of the night. The Bearcats’ trio of Noah Reyes, Cort Mizell and Marcus Nichols combined for four sacks in the first half with Mizell recording two back-to-back on the same possession. Ian Shuttles and Gabe Fennell patrolled the secondary with each recording an interception.

“The defensive line has played well all year, but I think they stepped it up tonight,” Hyatt said. “They’re big, physical guys, and they love playing football. They get after it.”

Mansfield had no answer for Ray, who was Booneville’s go-to option on short yardage and red zone situations after he scored two of his touchdowns from inside five yards.

“He’s a great player,” Mansfield coach Craig Bentley said. “The best thing about him is his feet never stop churning. He runs with his knees high and feet fast. We knew if we didn’t swarm and gang tackle to the ball, we were going to be in trouble tonight and that’s what happened.”

Multiple times throughout the night, Ray showcased his strength by running over Tiger defenders or breaking tackles, including four on his touchdown run from 25 yards out.

“He comes from a football family. He comes to work every day. He works hard. He practices hard. He does everything you ask him to do,” Hyatt said. “He’s fun to coach.”

Mansfield’s Layton Howard shined on the team’s lone scoring possession. The junior busted a 41-yard run and caught a 19-yard pass before finishing off the drive with his second reception, this one being a 2-yard pass from Stovall.