MMS rolls over Norwood, 48-8

It is pretty well known in football that you don't want to leave your defense on the field for long periods of time. However, the Midway Middle School Green Wave did just that last Thursday and still came up big winners, downing Norwood, 48-8.

The Green Wave had the ball for only seven plays in the first half and scored four times. At one point they had ran only two plays and scored twice on their way to the easy win over the Jaguars.

The win over Norwood earned Midway the Clinch Valley Conference Class A regular season title. The Green Wave will now play Oakdale again next Thursday, Oct. 11 for the Clinch Valley championship. Midway beat the Eagles 45-12 during the regular season.

The championship game will be at Midway and starts at 7 p.m.

The Green Wave have one more regular season game to play this Thursday at Rockwood, also starting at 7 p.m.

Norwood attempted to do the best thing which was keeping the ball away from Midway. They held on to the ball for almost four minutes to start the game, but had to punt near midfield. 

Zane Moser returned the punt to the 38 and it took Jake Woody one play to sprint 62 yards for the opening touchdown. 

Midway head coach Randy Steele had been employing two kickers this season and both have done a good job on kickoffs. In this game, Steele gave the two kickers a chance to kick extra points. Colby Fowler missed the first one but, along with Austin Williams, the pair hit six of the next six extra point tries.

After the kickoff, Norwood again held on to the ball and reached the Midway 40, but were forced to punt again to punt again. The punt never happened, however, as a bobbled snap gave Midway the ball at the Jaguar 46.

One play later Midway added to their lead when Skyan Lyle raced 46 yards for the score. 

Williams booted home the extra point for a 13-0 lead with 7:35 left till halftime.

Norwood would hang on to the ball for four plays this possession and punted from the 29. Lyle returned the punt 20 yards to the Norwood 42.

The Green Wave needed three plays this time to score, as Woody scored on a 24-yard run. 

Fowler booted home the PAT to make the score 20-0 with 4:29 left in the half. 

After another Norwood punt, Midway put together a two-play, 50-yard scoring drive. Moser broke free for a 46-yard gain then Drake Romines got the last four yards easily. 

Williams tacked on  the extra point for a 27-0 lead with 1:29 left till halftime.

Midway’s starters got one more shot after the kickoff to begin the second half. The Green Wave responded with a four-play, 62-yard scoring drive.

Woody had the first big play of the drive with a 34-yard sprint to the Norwood 34 then Lyle sprinted in from there for the fifth touchdown. 

Fowler added the point after for a 34-0 lead with 5:14 left in the third quarter.

Midway’s Landon Davidson recovered a fumble on the kickoff then the Green Wave reserves put together a 12-play, 46-yard scoring drive.

Robert Schommer scored the touchdown from the four then Fowler added the point after for a 41-0 lead.

Almost as soon as the mercy rule went into effect, the Jaguars took it off, as Brandon Sharp raced 64 yards for the touchdown after the kickoff. 

QB Mazon Jenkins hit Holden Palmer with the two-point conversion to cut Midway’s lead to 41-8.

Moser scored again on Midway’s next drive from 46 yards out, and Williams boomed through the point after to make the score 48-8.

Midway rolled up 382 yards total offense all coming on the ground on 24 carries.

 Woody led the way with 142 yards on five carries and a pair of TDs. Lyle had 80 yards on only two runs both for touchdowns while Moser had three carries for 94 yards and a touchdown.