Caldwell County’s Baron Wells returned the game’s opening kickoff 81 yards for a touchdown and the Tigers rolled from there.
Caldwell led 36-0 after one quarter, 43-0 at halftime, and went on to defeat Ballard Memorial 50-8 Friday night in a Class 2A 1st District contest in Princeton.
Wells later added a 66-yard TD catch on a swing pass and was the only Tiger player with more than one touchdown in the contest.
Caldwell began to get its starters out of the game before the first quarter was even complete.
The Tigers (2-1) finished the night with two special teams touchdowns and an interception return for a score.
Drew Davis blocked a Ballard Memorial punt early in the game, then scooped up the loose ball and rambled 8 yards for a score. Blake Vivrette kicked the extra point to stake Caldwell to a 14-0 lead just 2:41 into the contest.
Wells’ second score came at the 7:08 mark of the opening stanza and made it 21-0.
After another botched Bomber punt attempt, Caldwell took over its next possession at the Ballard Memorial 3-yard line. Russ Beshear hit Layton Hammett on the left side and Hammett went in untouched to help extend the margin to 28-0.
Ballard’s next series didn’t go much better. Logan Hargrove was hit trying to pass and the ball flew up in the air. Nick Sherrill grabbed it for Caldwell and went 16 yards into the end zone. Travion Samuel ran for the 2-point conversion to make it 36-0 with still 2:20 left in the first quarter.
The scoring slowed down from there, but Caldwell still had a few fireworks from some of its reserves.
Backup quarterback Jack Stevens ran 47 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter as the Tigers built their 43-0 lead at the break.
Sophomore running back Jamus Carneyhan got to the left corner and raced 90 yards for a touchdown with 2:55 left in the third quarter. Backup kicker Timothy Nichols nailed the extra point to put Caldwell up 50-0.
The Bombers (0-3) did leave Princeton with their first points of the season.
On fourth down, Aiden Riley went 6 yards up the middle for a touchdown. Carson Buchanan ran in the two-point try with 5:09 left in the contest.
Caldwell’s Carneyhan was the leading yardage-gainer in the contest, finishing with 123 yards rushing on four attempts.
Riley ran for 93 yards for Ballard.
Caldwell ran just 13 offensive plays in the contest — and four of those were kneel-downs on the Tigers’ final series of the night after Caldwell reached the red zone again.
The Tigers had 210 yards of total offense while Ballard Memorial had 144.
Caldwell will stay in district play next week, but gets a stiffer challenge when it travels to Mayfield. The Cardinals are 2-1 after beating Union County 36-20 on Friday.
