Another Callaway Cup belongs to North Callaway.
The Thunderbirds defeated their county rival South Callaway 34-14 at home last Friday. They outscored the Bulldogs 28-8 in the second half.
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Another Callaway Cup belongs to North Callaway.
The Thunderbirds defeated their county rival South Callaway 34-14 at home last Friday. They outscored the Bulldogs 28-8 in the second half.
Head coach Kevin O’Neal said the running game hit its stride in the second half after some adjustments. North Callaway accumulated 265 yards on 39 carries.
“We weren’t quite blocking the correct way,” O’Neal said. “Our assignments were off on our blocking schemes so we made a couple small adjustments at halftime to make sure our kids were going to the right spots.”
Jaiden Galbreath ran for more than 1,000 yards last season and had 195 of those in last year’s Callaway Cup game. Galbreath finished with 80 yards and three touchdowns on 11 carries.
O’Neal said others can lighten the load for Galbreath this season, and they did on Friday. Collin Moore ran for 81 yards on 10 carries and Kellen Long followed with 67 yards on 11 carries.
“You’re going to see a lot more guys get touches and yards,” O’Neal said. “We’ve got a lot of weapons we can use offensively.”
Coltyn O’Neal ran for a touchdown but had a good game passing the ball, going 7-for-12 for 101 yards and a 33-yard touchdown to Long. Long had eight catches for 85 yards.
South Callaway’s big offensive weapon didn’t have as good of a game as in the past. Quarterback Graden Pontius finished with 31 yards on 13 carries after having more than 100 yards rushing in each of South Callaway’s last two meetings against North Callaway.
“Our focus was stopping him,” O’Neal said. “We practiced all week on making sure he wasn’t going to be the one that was going to beat us. Our defense did a good job of playing assignment football.”
Long also led North Callaway on defense with eight tackles, and Brandon Biggers followed with seven tackles.
North Callaway plays at 7 p.m. Friday at Macon, who defeated Kirksville last week. The Thunderbirds are happy to have been victorious against a team that consistently gives them a tough game and was the one to eliminate North Callaway in districts the past two years.
“It doesn’t make a difference if one team is better than the other,” O’Neal said. “Anytime we play this game, both teams come ready to play.”
