3 days Ago By By Kelly Wray For The Duncan Banner
What happened: Kamdyn Whetstone ran for 192 yards and four touchdowns, and the Empire defense forced five turnovers Friday, as the Bulldogs bounced Cyril, 44-12, in a battle of ranked unbeatened. Whetstone carried 28 times. Empire entered the contest 2-0 and ranked No.
9 in Class B-1. Cyril was 2-0 and ranked ninth in Class B-II. How it happened: Homestanding Empire took a 12-0 lead in the first quarter, but Cyril rallied – and when the Pirates scored on a 14-yard pass from Nash Harman to Braxon Hughes on the final play of the first half, the game stood tied at 12.
Then, the Bulldogs dominated the rest of the game. Empire didn’t allow a first down in the second half. Whetstone scored from 1-yard out halfway through the third quarter, and then Christian Benitez returned a fumble for a 20-yard TD to give Empire a two-score lead with four minutes left in the third period.
By then, Empire defensive end Cutter Rochell had knocked Harman out of the game with a pancake sack, and the air went out of Cyril offensive attack. Whetstone followed with touchdown runs of 4, 25, and 4 yards to close the scoring. Key Stat: Plus-5.
The Bulldogs didn’t have any turnovers, but the Empire defense forced five Cyril turnovers. Four of the five Cyril turnovers led to Empire touchdowns. Francisco Garcia intercepted a Harman pass to kill Cyril’s first drive inside the Empire 10.
Cale Porter had a fumble recovery and interception. Quotable: Empire head coach Bryant Hayes on the Bulldogs’ dominant second half: “I think we just got back to being us. We preached to contain (Harman), and I think those guys were thinking too much.
At half, I told them to get after him and quit worrying about anything I had told them.” Harman went 10-of-18 for 143 yards passing and two touchdowns. He rushed for just 21 yards on nine carries.
FOUR DOWNS Porter’s Return Porter, who plays defensive back and multiple positions on offense, had a big game on both sides of the ball. He caught an 11-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Bryce Shaver to open the scoring and then added a 15-yard TD catch to put Empire up 12-0. He also made an interception and recovered a fumble.
Wham, Bam Empire ran its Wham offensive set for most of the game. Wham is a power-running offense that features multiple quarterbacks taking snaps in the same series. As many as five different Bulldogs took snaps from center, including Sean Allen, who starts on the defensive line.
Empire finished with 215 yards rushing and 269 yards of total offense. D Stuffs Run The Empire defense held Cyril to 17 yards rushing. The Pirates had negative yards rushing in the second half.
Empire has now outscored its opponents 88-12, including the 2-0 forfeit win over Temple. Up Next Empire travels to Wetumka for a 7:30 p.m.
contest Friday. It will be the final non-district tune-up. Wetumka lost to Dewar, 69-0, in its season-opener.
It beat Davenport, 32-8, last Friday. Wetumka is on Highway 9, between Seminole and Eufaula..
