Freshman quarterback leads Mills past Chicks in opener

By DAVID PIERCE

Sports Connection Team

BLYTHEVILLE – Freshman quarterback Elijah Moody had a high school football debut to remember as his Mills University Comets routed Blytheville Friday, 46-6.

Blytheville’s Chris Hatcher clears the line of scrimmage as he makes his way up field during Friday’s 2024 season opener against Mills University Studies. The Chicks were on the wrong end of a 46-6 score. (Photos David Pierce)

The signal caller accounted for six scores – three rushing and three passing – as the Comets (1-0) scored 40 unanswered points enroute to the win. Moody rushed for 208 yards and completed 14-of-17 passes for another 196 yards. All in all, Mills rolled up 497 yards of offense compared to Blytheville’s 191 total yards.

Omar Hunt was responsible for the visitor’s first score on a five-yard run.

Blytheville seemed prepped to match Mills offensive output as they answered Hunt’s score with a Jontavious Johnson to Derick King 29-yard touchdown. King would outleap three defenders in the back of the end zone on a 4th-and-11 play from just outside the red zone. This culminated a 10-play, 61-yard drive which took more than four minutes off the clock.

The Chicks Jontavious Johnson had success running the football for one and half quarters but turnovers, penalties and fatigue proved costly for Blytheville in a 40-point loss to Mills.

The extra point attempt was blocked but the score was knotted at 6-6.

On the Comets ensuing possession, the Chick defense held Mills to a three-and-out.

A Blytheville unsportsmanlike call backed the host team up to their own eight-yard line but a pair of Courtney Rogers’ runs moved the ball 20 yards to the 28-yard line. Fourteen plays later, Rogers toted the ball three yards on a 4th-and-1 play from the four-yard line.

The Chicks were poised to take the lead but a fumble spoiled the opportunity.

“The little things,” replied Blytheville head coach Jett Howard when asked how things changed so rapidly. “Yep, that was a mistake that swung the game. When you look at it on film, it’s always something small; one guy out of a gap, a missed block. It’s those things that happen at a pivotal point in the game that come back to bite you.”

And Moody called his teeth in and didn’t release his grip until the game ended.

A pair of penalties backed Mills up to their own three-yard line, but Moody called his own number on the next play and promptly ran 97 yards for a touchdown. He outraced King and Eugene Williams to the end zone.

“Momentum is a real thing,” said Howard, “especially when (Mills) is getting points off mistakes we are making. That’s what I told them at halftime. (Mills) is capitalizing every time when we do something we aren’t supposed to do. It kept happening. Not discrediting them at all, they played well but we hurt ourselves and got out of our game plan a little bit.

“It is the first game of the year,” he continued, “and the guys probably had some jitters, but no excuses.”

As Howard eluded to, Blytheville wasn’t out of it.

A.J. Ford, a first-year player who provided a spark in the Chick return game, returned the kickoff to the Mills 49-yard line. A Johnson keeper set  BHS up at the 29-yard line but again a turnover halted the drive.

This time Moody chose the air for a score connecting with Chauncey Haynes on a 35-yard touchdown pass. This completed a 12-play, 95-yard drive which put the visitors up 18-6.

Late in the first half, Blytheville threatened after King capitalized on a poor Moody throw. The senior picked off the pass and returned it 50 yards to the Mills 25-yard line.

Johnson launched a pass to the end zone with five seconds to go and Michael Terry hauled it in, however the throw had forced Terry out of bounds.

From there it was all Mills as the Comets scored on each of their four possessions in the second half with Moody playing a part in each one.

He had rushing touchdowns of 45 and 9 yards and threw two more.

Blytheville only mustered 46 yards of offense in the second half and only had the ball for a little more than seven minutes. In fact, Moody’s final touchdown pass with 6:57 remaining resulted in a running clock with the 40-point margin.

“Yeah, it definitely set in,” admitted Howard when asked if fatigue played a role in the second half. “We know we’re going to be outnumbered by about every team we play this year. It’s about being able to display some toughness and fight through it. You have to know what it feels like to empty the tank. We don’t have the numbers to continually sub guys.

“It’s demoralizing especially as Mills continued to score,” he added. “Our guys start to pay more attention to how tired they are but they have to learn how to block that out and continue to play regardless of what the scoreboard says.”

Johnson was the Chicks leading rusher with 79 yards on 11 carries and Rogers managed 39 but left the game early in the second half with cramping issues. Johnson also completed eight passes for 69 yards with King his target of choice with five receptions for 58 yards.

The teams combined were whistled for 26 penalties – nine of which were either personal fouls or unsportsmanlike conduct. Williams was called for two which resulted in his ejection from the game in the third quarter.

“We have to get back to the drawing board and get these guys zoned in,” Howard concluded. “It wasn’t all bad. We were able to get some of the younger guys in and see what they were able to do. That will get us some film on them and see where we might be able to plug them in and help us.

“We made some good plays,” he added, “but they were overshadowed by the negative ones. As a coach, you always zero in on the negatives but there were some good things that took place especially special teams. No, the outcome isn’t what we wanted but like I said we need to focus in on some things and build our team to what we know it can be.”

Blytheville has an off week as a result of Osceola cancelling the Sept. 6 game but returns in two weeks to face Nettleton in Jonesboro.