Tuesday, October 16, 2012 — The East Montgomery Eagles took the field at the Albemarle football stadium on Friday night and chose to start the game on offense in an attempt to take control of the game early against the “Oak Tree” defense that had only allowed 82 points this season entering the contest.

However, it was the Albemarle offense that was explosive from the first time that they touched the ball as senior running back Kevin McKinney had one of his best rushing outputs of the season in a 42-7 home win over the Eagles.

Giving a great deal of the credit to the offensive front five of Albemarle (8-1, 5-0 YVC), McKinney finished with 152 yards on 16 carries with three touchdowns, including his longest gain of the day, a 56-yard run on the Bulldogs’ first play from scrimmage.

Most of the numbers last night for visiting East Montgomery (3-6, 2-3) were on the negative side of the ledger for much of the game as the high-powered velocity of the Oak Tree did not allow the Eagles enough time to run their offensive plays.

Trailing 7-0 early in the first, East Montgomery just missed a chance to tie the game when an Avery Jackson pass to a wide-open receiver on a fly pattern down the East sidelines was just off the hands of the Eagles wide receiver with no defenders between him and the endzone.

Albemarle’s offense got back on track after a three-and-out with a seven-play, 46-yard scoring drive on their third possession of the game. Quarterback Deon Christian found a wide-open Alvin Currie in the endzone for a 17-yard touchdown strike, capping off the drive that took just 2:16 seconds to complete.

The Bulldogs scored on their next possession that stretched into the second quarter. The key play of the drive was Deon Christian finding an open Timmie White for 36 yards to push the ball to the Eagle 24-yard line.

Five plays later, McKinney had his second rushing touchdown and the Bulldogs held a 21-0 lead.

Albemarle’s fourth touchdown came from senior tailback Markez Brown, who danced around several tacklers to give the ‘Dogs a 28-0 advantage.

The Bulldogs took a 35-0 lead to the locker room at halftime with a nine-play, 73-yard scoring march down the field, mostly through the air, including the final 40 yards on a Christian strike to Timmie White.

The Eagles did not gain a first down by an offensive run or pass in the first half, and did not get past the Bulldog 42-yard line until in the final minutes of the game, when backup quarterback Daniel Harman connected with C.J. Robinson on a fly pattern for a 47-yard touchdown. Robinson’s catch and Luis Rodriguez’s kick spoiled the shutout bid by Albemarle.

In the final seconds of the game, East Montgomery recovered a Bulldog fumble and got to the one-yard line as time expired off the clock. However, the referees determined that the Eagles had called time out despite the running clock used for the second half and East had one chance to put more points on the board. Dylan Hudson was denied on the fullback dive play, though, as the Bulldogs’ defense held.

“Our guys came in tonight and played really hard. They were getting after the football, something we have talked about all week and all last week,” Albemarle Head Coach Danny Akins said.

The Albemarle coach also talked about the team’s offensive line and their ability to to surge forward with their blocks giving the running game the chance to gain positive yardage.

Albemarle plays their final two regular-season games on the road, including this Friday night at North Moore (0-8, 0-5) who lost 42-6 at South Stanly this past Friday.

The Bulldogs then travel to South Stanly Oct. 26 in game for both the Stanly Cup and the Yadkin Valley Conference championship as well.

Akins said that his team has inadvertantly been watching film of South Stanly all season yet preparing for other teams in the YVC by watching their game against the Rebel Bulls, which makes it harder to focus on the Mustangs than the regular-season ending showdown with South Stanly.

“Our guys have seen [South Stanly] on film somehow or another every week, so it is hard to keep them out of that state of mind. We still haveto play each game one at a time and have to stay focused [on North Moore].”



EM    0    0    0    7    7

A    14    21    7    0    42



A – Kevin McKinney 56 run (Julio Cisneros kick), 9:28, 1st

A – Alvin Currie 17 pass from Deon Christian (Cisneros kick), 2:31, 1st

A – McKinney 6 run (Cisneros kick), 10:55, 2nd

A – Markez Brown 14 run (Cisneros kick), 4:04, 2nd

A – Timmie White 40 pass from Christian (Cisneros kick), :43, 2nd

A – McKinney 23 run (Cisneros kick), 9:38, 3rd

EM – C.J. Robinson 47 pass from Daniel Harman (Luis Rodriguez kick), 3:28, 4th



Team Stats



    EM    A

1st Downs    5    20

Rushing    32-1    37-222

Passing    62    171

C-A-I    4-15-2    10-15-0

Penalties    2-10    4-45

Punts    6-33.3    2-26.5

Fum.-Lost    2-1    4-3

3rd Down    2-15    5-10

4th Down    1-2    2-2

TOP    27:34    20:26



Individual Statistics



Rushing: EM – Chambers 9-18; Hudson 9-16; Durham 5-4; Smith 2-5; Jackson 2-(-6); Hill 2-(-6); Harman 1-(-4); TEAM 2-(-26).  A – McKinney 16-152, TD; Christian 9-12; Brown 8-36; Crump 3-25; Parsons 1-(-3).

Passing: EM – Jackson 2-10-0, -4 yds.; Harman 2-5-2, 66 yds., TD. A – Christian 10-15-0, 171 yds., 2 TD.

Receiving: EM – Baldwin 2-21; Robinson 1-47, TD; Smith 1-(-6). A – Currie 4-47, TD; White 3-92, TD; Brown 2-28; McKinney 1-4.