Kirkwood Rumbles Past Camdenton Into State Semifinals

Another game, another blowout win for the Kirkwood Pioneers. This week’s victims were the Camdenton Lakers in a 46-18 quarterfinal playoff game.  

The defense stood tall and the offense scored seemingly at will.  Jahmal Hicks piled up three sacks while wide receiver Mike McHugh caught four touchdowns passes, two from each quarterback, Jordan Bishop and BJ Buckner.

Kirkwood set the tone right away. Hicks forced a Laker punt with his first of three sacks.  On the Kirkwood’s first offense play, running back Ramon Alton scampered for a 34 yard touchdown run.  The next Pioneer drive took a bit longer.  The three-play drive was capped off by Buckner hitting McHugh for a 65 yard touchdown pass on a deep crossing route.

A Buckner fumble and several Kirkwood defensive penalties led to Camdenton’s first touchdown early in the second quarter, but Hicks added to his standout game by blocking the extra point to preserve a 14-6 Kirkwood lead.  The Pioneer offense responded quickly with an emphatic, two play, 67 yard touchdown drive. Buckner threw his second touchdown pass of the game to fellow senior Mike McHugh for 9 yards to cap off the drive.  Before halftime, Kirkwood added another touchdown pass to McHugh and another touchdown run for Ramon Alton to stretch the Pioneer lead to 33-6.

On the first drive of the second half, Buckner tossed his third touchdown pass.  The 18-yard pass to Kendall Day and subsequent extra point by Andrew Phillips extended the Kirkwood lead to 40-6.  Camdenton finally got its first sustained offense drive at the end the third quarter.

Camdenton’s Murphy Ward punched in a three yard touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter.  McHugh then capped off his monstrous game with his fourth touchdown catch, his second from Bishop.  Camdenton called a timeout with three seconds remaining in the game to get Ward a second rushing touchdown as time expired to bring the final score to 46-18.

The Pioneer defense finished the day with five sacks and an interception.  They made running the ball very difficult for Camdenton running back Murphy Ward who recently eclipsed 3,000 yards rushing in his career.  After amassing 282 yards rushing in Camdenton’s last game, Kirkwood held Ward to less than 50 yards rushing.

Several Pioneers passed major offensive milestones for the 2011 season.  Alton finished the game with 108 yards rushing to run his season total over the 1,000 yard mark. Buckner also broke the 1,000 yard plateau, but through the air passing.  McHugh, after two quiet games versus Parkway West and Holt, piled up 146 yards on five catches to push his season total just 59 yards shy of 1,000 yards receiving.

Most importantly, Kirkwood’s eleventh win of the season put them into the state semifinals against Hazelwood East, who yesterday beat Parkway Central 42-15.

Kirkwood will play their semifinal game on Saturday at 1:30pm at Hazelwood East High School.