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Miners dominate Cougars 52-6
ELNORA – It was one of those nights for the Linton Miners when the end zone kept getting in the way. Cash Howard ran to paydirt three times. A trio of Trey Goodman aerials were hauled in for touchdowns.
And in a dominating performance from top to bottom the Miners rolled the North Daviess Cougars 52-6 Friday night at Thurman H. Brown Field.
“Our kids definitely came out ready to play tonight,” Linton coach Brian Oliver said. “I’m proud of the effort. Tonight we were able to execute a lot of different things and work on our passing game.”
The Miners took the opening kickoff and marched 80 yards in eight plays. Luke Lannan rambled for 6 and 16 yards picking up a pair of first downs. Lance Dyer broke free for 22 yards to the North Daviess 25.
On the first play Cash Howard sprinted outside and took it to the house three minutes into the action.
The Miners needed just one play for each of the next two scores.
The Cougars picked up a first down but two straight incompletions stalled the drive. Then an offside penalty against Linton gave North Daviess a fourth-and-2 at midfield. Owens – who doubles as the punter – took the snap in punt formation and ran for it. He was stopped at the Linton 47.
On the first play from scrimmage Dyer got behind the defense. Goodman threw a strike to Dyer who raced home.
Owens booted a fine 56-yard punt pinning the Miners at their own 9.
But it was all Cash, all day. On the first play Howard took the handoff and outran the Cougar defenders, 91 yards for a 20-0 Linton lead at the five-minute mark of the first quarter.
Howard racked up 145 yards on just six carries.
On the next series Goodman hit Devyn Robertson for 12 yards. Two plays later Robertson made a leaping grab for 27 more and a first-and-goal at the 10. The Miners then scored their fourth first-down touchdown of the half with Lannan bulling his way across the goal line.
With three-and-a-half minutes remaining until intermission Dyer picked off ND quarterback Jacob Combess at the Cougar 45. And the Goodman-to-Robertson connection would hook up again.
On third-and-6 from the 16 Goodman hit Robertson over the middle at the 5. Robertson slipped a tackle and pranced in with 32 seconds on the clock as the Miners took a 33-0 lead into the locker room.
North Daviess mounted a drive on its first series of the second half aided in part by pass interference and encroachment calls against the Miners. But a 15-yarder back the Cougars up to the 46 where they turned the ball over on downs. Three plays later Dyer dashed in from 10 yards out.
North Daviess picked up a first down on three Owens runs. But again the Cougars were forced to punt.
The Miners would strike for six again on first down for the sixth time of the night. From the Linton 41 Goodman swung it out to Robertson at the line of scrimmage. Robertson cut back and took it to the house at the 1:26 mark of the third stanza.
Goodman completed 10-of-15 for 192 yards.
Lannan returned a punt 19 yards, fought for 21 and 9 yards, then plowed ahead on second-and-inches for a first-and-goal at the 3. From there Howard cashed in on his third TD of the night – and a 52-0 lead with nine minutes to play.
And the 1-4 team the skeptics were questioning suddenly looked like the Miners of old.
North Daviess’ lone score came midway through the fourth quarter against the Miner reserves. D.J. Owens scampered in from 6 yards out. Owens carried five times for 58 yards on the Cougars’ final drive.
“We’re getting better every single day,” Oliver said. “We’re getting there. We’ve still got a lot of games left but I’m proud of where we are right now.”
Next week the Miners play host to the North Knox Warriors for homecoming.
MINERS 52, COUGARS 6
Score by quarters
Linton 20 13 13 6 – 52
North Daviess 0 0 0 6 – 6
SCORING SUMMARY
First Quarter
L – Cash Howard 25 run (Jace Elmore kick), 8:59
L – Lance Dyer 47 pass from Trey Goodman (kick failed), 7:06
L – Howard 91 run (Elmore kick), 4:59
Second Quarter
L – Luke Lannan 10 run (Elmore kick), 10:59
L – Devyn Robertson 16 pass from Goodman (kick failed), :32
Third Quarter
L – Dyer 10 run (Elmore kick), 7:24
L – Robertson 59 pass from Goodman (kick failed), 1:26
Fourth Quarter
L – Howard 3 run (kick failed), 9:00
N – J.D. Owens 6 run (pass failed), 5:27
TEAM STATISTICS
L N
First downs 24 7
Rushes-yards 40-347 32-77
Passing yards 192 24
Total yards 539 101
Return yards 30 172
C-A-I 10-15-0 3-13-1
Punts-avg 1-40 6-39
Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-0
Penalties-yards 8-68 7-72
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING – Linton: Cash Howard 6-145, Luke Lannan 14-105, Lance Dyer 6-45, Kaulin Padgett 2-16, Bracey Brenneman 1-15, Jaydan Miller 1-9, Braden Jackson 1-8, Drake McKisson 1-3, Trey Goodman 7-2, Drew Smith 1-(minus 1). North Daviess: D.J. Owens 22-85, Ethan Malone 1-0, Tanner Reed 1-(minus 2), Jacob Combess 8-(minus 6).
PASSING – Linton: Goodman 10-15, 192 yards, 3 TDs. North Daviess: Combess 3-12, 24 yards; Reed 0-1.
RECEIVING – Linton: Devyn Robertson 6-130, Dyer 2-55, Clayton Hauser 1-7, Lannan 1-0. North Daviess: Ted Lamson 2-16, Carter Robinson 1-8.
