By Kevin Taylor
Alma Schools
Alma quarterback Jackson Daily threw for two scores and ran for two more during the Airedales' 35-0 win over Pryor (Okla.) Friday at Tiger Stadium.
But two of the biggest plays were turned in by the defense.
Senor Kaydin Minshull rumbled 75 yards for a touchdown after plucking a pass out of the air to give the Airedales a 14-0 lead, and Ashton Chanhnouvong helped thwart a Pryor scoring drive.
“The ball just came to me and I was following my blocks,” Minshull said of his return. “I saw Cash (Farris) there; everybody was blocking great. I was following Cash and I saw Landon (Morris) behind me, so I was blessed and I found the end zone.”
Jackson threw for 146 yards while completing 12-of-20 passes with two interceptions to go along with his two scores - a 19-yard strike to sophomore Samuel Schlegel and a 4-yard toss to Byron Standridge.
Daily also got the scoring going with an 18-yard run on a designed quarterback draw.
The Airedales cranked it up with two third-quarter scoring drives to effectively put the game out of reach.
“Having 14 (points) at halftime isn’t really where we want to be, but we came back with a good third quarter,” Daily said. “The defense played good; the offensive line played good, and we pitched a shutout - you really can’t ask for anything better.”
Daily added a second rushing touchdown from a yard out to open up the second half and finished with 51 yards rushing on 13 attempts. He leads the team with six rushing touchdowns and three TD passes.
Israel Towns-Robinson added 80 yards rushing on 14 carries, including a 30-yard burst that led to a touchdown.
The Airedales (2-1) open 5A-West play Sept. 22 at Clarksville.
No-name defense
The Airedales didn’t have a lot of experienced depth on the defensive chart when spring ball started.
Three of the team’s defensive leaders from 2022 (Dillon Flanagan, Reagan Birchfield, and Brady Noyes) graduated this spring. All the trio did was combine for 213 tackles, 23 TFLs, and 11 quarterback sacks last season.
But after a few tweaks, which included flipping Eric Johnson from the offensive line to nose guard, and the emergence of juniors Jackson Mitchell and Noah Ingle, things are looking up.
“We’ve been able to create a lot of pressure,” Mitchell said following Friday’s 35-0 win over Pryor, Okla. The Airedales’ defensive end added to his hot start with eight tackles.
“Our secondary played decent, and we didn’t allow very many rushing yards - we shut them out,” Mitchell said. “We’ve just got to work a little bit on the secondary and we’ll be good.”
Along with Mitchell, Ingle, and Johnson, Trey Bowen, Cash Farris, Michael Taylor, Israel Towns-Robinson, Landon Morris, and Donald Mulligan, among others, have played well.
Pryor quarterback Braden Ward threw for 172 yards on 17-of-31 pass attempts and moved the Tigers inside the 25 on three separate occasions in the first half, but big plays by Minshull and Ashton Chanhnouvong helped preserve the shutout.
Moving On Up
Sophomore Samuel Schlegel had seven receptions for 95 yards to give him 19 receptions for 283 yards and a touchdown for his young career. The single-season record for receptions is 85 (Brayden Johnson) back in 2017.
Conner Stacy hauled in 84 receptions for 1,306 yards (the single-season record for yards) in 2021.
Since 2011, nine different receivers have caught 39 or more passes in a season, including Johnson, who did it three times.
Johnson holds the sophomore record for receptions in a season with 54 (2015).
Hot start
Minshull’s strong play on defense isn’t the only eyebrow-raiser three games into the 2023 season.
Minshull was a perfect 5-for-5 on extra-point attempts against Pryor and is now 14-for-14 for the season. He was 22-of-31 in 2022.
“He’s in the zone,” Alma coach Rusty Bush said. “I think Kaydin would tell you, in fall camp he was struggling, and we were kind of looking to go in another direction., and all of the sudden, right before the Siloam Springs game he started banging them right down the middle, and then he was backing up and hitting them from 30 yards. Obviously, that’s a weapon.”