RAYMOND — Class C-2 No. 9-ranked Malcolm scored the game's first 13 points, led by as many as three scores and knocked No. 6 Raymond Central from the ranks of the unbeaten Friday with a 27-19 win over the Mustangs at Raymond Central.Â
Here are Chris Basnett's takeaways from the Journal Star's Game of the Week.
Malcolm's still pretty good: It had been a rough few weeks for the Clippers (5-2), who lost to top-five teams Oakland-Craig and Bishop Neumann in a three-week stretch before going on the road to play unbeaten Raymond Central.
But the Clippers were in control from the start Friday. The defense forced a 3-and-out on the game's opening possession, got a 29-yard punt return from Cole Tiedeman and needed just six plays to go 50 yards for the game's opening touchdown: a 35-yard pass from Carson Frank to a wide-open Brixon Meyer.
Raymond Central lost a fumble on its next possession that was recovered by Malcolm's Justin Wisnieski at the Raymond 41-yard line, and Meyer put the Clippers up 13-0 a few minutes later with an 11-yard score.Â
It was a 27-6 Malcolm lead before Raymond Central hit a pair of long touchdown passes in the game's final six minutes to make things interesting.
"I thought against Oakland-Craig, we worried about things that we have no control over. So we really got on the kids about, you can only control the things that you can control," Malcolm coach Scott Amen said. "I thought our kids were more worried about bad calls or this or that. And it’s like, focus on yourself. That’s the only thing you can improve."
The Clippers had a great plan: Raymond Central quarterback Wyatt Jelinek, the team's leading rusher, was held to 21 yards on 15 carries. Jelinek was at zero rushing yards after three quarters before breaking loose for a 19-yarder in the fourth.
Malcolm controlled the line of scrimmage defensively, and while the Clippers didn't get much going on the ground, quarterback Carson Frank had one of his most efficient games of the season, finishing 15-for-19 for 202 yards and two touchdowns.
And when the Clippers needed to ice the game, they created some space on the ground. Runs of five, five, four, and eight yards on the game's final possession allowed Malcolm to run out the clock.Â
"They're an explosive team. They have a lot of talent on the edges," Amen said of Raymond Central. "I was proud of our kids on that last drive, picking up the first down. I loved the way our kids competed. They didn't quit, and we've had some adversity."
Combined with the quick start, it was a textbook performance from a program that has become one of C-2's most consistent squads over the past two seasons.
It's all still in front of Raymond Central: Off to one of its best starts in years, a loss does little to change the course of the Mustangs' season.
Friday's game marked Raymond Central's first of the season against a team with a winning record through seven weeks, and after the slow start, the Mustangs hung in well.
Jelinek threw for 209 yards, including scores of 62 yards to Dawson Potter and 55 yards to Tavion Johnson in the fourth quarter.
But the Mustangs also failed to score after getting a first down at the Malcolm 14 late in the first quarter, came up empty again after reaching the Clipper 15-yard line on their first drive of the third quarter and were held out of the end zone after getting to the Malcolm 19-yard line late in the third.
The Mustangs must still play Husker commit Conor Booth and Bishop Neumann, a team that is "on another level," Amen said, and also have a game against winless Conestoga next week.
But a postseason berth, and a chance to make more history, is still very much in play.
"What I like about (our kids), even tonight in a loss is, they have bought in to what we're talking about," Raymond Central coach Tony Kobza said. "The confidence is contagious. We start off (the season with a win), and I think the belief just kind of kept building and building and building. And it's like anything — you see success and you're willing to do it again and again."
Photos: Raymond Central hosts Malcolm in Journal Star Game of the Week — Oct. 11