Balanced attack leads Herrin past Massac County

The Herrin Tigers showed Friday that they are more than capable of moving the ball and scoring through the air as they are on the ground.

Junior quarterback Chance Karnes completed 7-of-13 passes for 166 yards and two touchdowns as the Tigers took care of business on the home field, defeating Massac County on Homecoming Night, 49-13.

With the win, Herrin improves to 3-0 in the Ohio Division of the River to River Conference and 5-1 overall. The Patriots remain winless at 0-6.

"With only three games left in the regular season and just two conference games, we had to show more balance on offense, and I think that's what we did tonight," said Herrin head coach Jason Karnes.

The 13-year head coach said he was also pleased to get all varsity players into the game for a change.

"It was an opportunity to get those kids into the game who work just as hard as the starters," Karnes said. "That's why it's nice, especially on Homecoming, to get those seniors and the others into the ballgame. I was very pleased with their performance."

After advancing the opening kickoff to the midfield stripe, the Tigers needed all of one play to get on the scoreboard.

Senior halfback Jackson Yates made a couple of nifty cuts and raced to paydirt from 50 yards out. The point-after-kick by Jake Baumgarte was good for a 7-0 lead just 20 seconds into the contest.

After the defense forced a three and out, Herrin was back in business. Karnes connected with senior standout Tate Johnson for a 49-yard score at the 9:11 mark. The PAT was blocked, leaving the score 13-0.

The Tigers got the ball back later in the first period and again scored on a 23-yard run by Johnson at the 2:12 mark. A two-point conversion pass from Karnes to Billy Braid upped the advantage to 21-0.

Karnes scored again with his legs instead of his right arm, breaking loose for a 28-yard TD jaunt. The two-point conversion run failed and the score was 27-0 with 9:18 to play in the second quarter.

Yates was the next Tiger to reach the endzone, this time on a 20-yard run at the 6:26 mark of the second period.

The Patriots finally got on the board with a 33-yard pass play from Bruce Neil to Chris Pummer at the 0:34 mark of the first half. The extra-point kick failed.

The Tigers answered with two more touchdowns in the third period. The first was a 34-yard pass play from Karnes to Johnson at the 6:37 mark to make the score 42-6 and the second was a 30-yard run Yates at the 6:08 mark following to up the lead to 49-6. That score was set up by an on-side kick recovery by Herrin.

That second score prompted a continuous clock the remainder of the game.

Massac County scored the game's final touchdown of the night - a 4-yard run by Chris Thompson with 8:15 left.

Statistically speaking, Yates finished with 144 yards on only six carries for the Tigers. He also surpassed the 1,000-yard barrier through six games.

Karnes totaled 62 yards on the ground on five carries to go along with his 166 passing yards.

Johnson contributed 42 yards rushing on three carries, but also caught four passes for 126 yards. Nolan Montgomery nabbed two passes out of the backfield for 25 yards and Jeff Rock had one catch for 15 yards.

The Patriots were led by Thompson's 97 yards rushing on 24 carries. Neil added 65 yards rushing.