Eagles pulverize Crusaders
Published 12:30 am Saturday, September 15, 2012
JACKSON — After getting pushed around and shut down for the past two games, the Porters Chapel Academy Eagles didn’t mind playing the bully role for a night.
Peter Harris and Logan Pickering scored two touchdowns apiece, Zac Morgan ran for a TD and threw for another, and the Eagles routed a struggling, overmatched Park Place squad 46-0 Friday night at Smith-Wills Stadium.
PCA (2-2, 1-1 District 4-A) rushed for 240 yards and showed an offensive flourish that had been lacking during a two-game losing streak in which it had scored two touchdowns. The Eagles doubled that output by the first minute of the second quarter Friday.
Harris rushed for a team-high 81 yards on only seven carries, Pickering had 61 yards and Justin McDaniel finished with 55 yards, a touchdown and a 2-point conversion run.
Only seven of the 86 plays from scrimmage in the game were snapped in PCA territory. The Eagles ran one play — the first of the game — from their own side of the field.
“We needed it big-time. It just builds our momentum back up after losing the past two weeks. We were kind of down on ourselves. It lets us know that we’re still a contender team, that we can do it,” said Pickering, who finished with 61 rushing yards on eight carries.
Park Place (0-5, 0-3) has only scored 14 points in its first four games, and given up at least 40 in each outing. From the start, it was clear it wouldn’t offer much resistance to PCA. Harris gained 35 yards on the first two plays from scrimmage, and capped a quick seven-play scoring drive with a 3-yard touchdown run with 9:16 left in the first quarter. Following a three-and-out by Park Place, Harris then returned a punt 54 yards for another score to make it 12-0.
Morgan added a 3-yard TD run later in the first quarter, then tossed a 10-yard touchdown pass to P.J. Lassiter on the second play of the second quarter. Lassiter made a one-handed grab in the back corner of the end zone, and Peyton Guider added the PAT for a 27-0 lead.