Short-handed Lebanon rolls past Watertown 37-0

Sep. 27—Two schools located less than 15 miles apart played varsity football against each other for the first time Friday night.

And while Class 6A Lebanon's 37-0 win over 3A Watertown at the Blue Devils' Clifton Tribble Field/Danny Watkins Stadium might have been expected, the visiting Purple Tigers put up a fight for as long as they could during LHS' homecoming.

But even with the Blue Devils missing two of their biggest playmakers to suspensions and injuries, they put together enough big plays while Watertown couldn't sustain offensive drives.

"Since halftime of last week, it's been a ride until that final blow," Lebanon coach Chuck Gentry said after his Blue Devils improved to 4-2. "We've had people injured, sickness, different things happened.

"We felt like next-man up mentality and let's play and see what happens. I'm very proud of my kids for responding in a game we felt we should win and glad we were able to come out and take care of business on defense and on special teams... Hopefully we got a little better tonight."

Triggering the attack was Lebanon quarterback Casen Kincaid, who turned in another efficient performance, completing 14 of 22 passes for 186 yards and three touchdowns. Backup Isaiah Muraira came on for a couple of series, completed a 48-yard pass and ran for a 49-yard touchdown. He also made big plays on special teams and defense.

The Purple Tigers got a first down on their opening series but had to punt.

The Blue Devils drove 77 yards to Kincaid's 13-yard touchdown pass to Dameon Calloway, who stepped up in the big-play-receiver role with eight catches for 111 yards.

Watertown had to punt again, but the Tigers forced a turnover on downs.

Muraira then blocked a punt by the Tigers' Trey Pack, setting up Kincaid's 5-yard scoring toss to T.J. Searcy.

Watertown then drove the ball to near midfield where Coach Gavin Webster tried some fourth-down trickery. KK West, who played for Lebanon as a freshman, took the snap as the upback in punt formation and ran 15 yards for an apparent first down. But West was penalized for hurdling another player, which is illegal in high school. The Tigers were eventually forced to punt.

In the meantime, freshman Blake Waldorf took over at quarterback for Watertown with senior Bret Price moving to wide receiver.

But Muraira intercepted Waldorf's pass. That set up Cameron Nixon's 40-yard field goal which dropped over the crossbar as the first half horn sounded.

Pack's second-half kickoff helped swing field position Watertown's way. The Purple Tigers drove to the Lebanon 3-yard line before stalling on downs.

Lebanon had to punt from its 1-foot line and Watertown got the ball at the Blue Devils' 34.

But Waldorf dropped a snap for an 8-yard loss and was sacked by Jack Clinard for another 11-yard setback.

The teams traded interceptions with Watertown's Tait Atnip and Lebanon's Weston Blinkard getting the picks.

Blinkard's pick at the Watertown 30 set up Kincaid's back-breaking 32-yard scoring strike to Chaseton Dixon on fourth down early in the fourth quarter.

Muraira broke free for a 49-yard scoring scamper.

Playing backups in the final moments, Lebanon scored when sophomore Jayden McGowan crossed over on a 9-yard run. With the running clock going, time expired and no extra point was tried as the Blue Devils improved to 4-2.

"It was a hard-fought football game," Gentry said. "They fought us to the last whistle and that's what I expected.

"Hats off to Coach Webster. This was a money game for a two-year deal. We didn't want to spend the money to travel to the places we were going to have to travel to play 'cause buses aren't cheap. Chartered buses are not cheap. And everybody we were going to have to play were out of the time zone. It only made sense. He wasn't looking to play us and we weren't looking to play him."

"We battled," Webster said after his Tigers were held to seven first downs and 109 total yards, just 10 of which came after halftime. "Still made a lot of mistakes. They came out and played smashmouth football with us and we didn't have a very good answer. We didn't execute very well on offense.

"We just weren't consistent. You got to be consistent in everything you do. Just moving the ball every once in a while won't get it done."

This was Lebanon's second of four straight games against Wilson County opponents. The third game will be at 7 p.m. next Friday when slumping Wilson Central comes to Tribble Field/Watkins Stadium for a crucial Region 4-6A game.

The Purple Tigers, losers of four straight, will be 2-4 when they return to Region 4-3A play next Friday when Giles County visits Robinson Stadium. Webster confirmed yesterday kickoff will be at 7 p.m. after leaving open the possibility of a later start due to the Bobcats' two-hour trip from Pulaski.