The Paris cross country team brought four runners to Kingdom City on Saturday and every one had a good showing.

Three of Paris’ runners finished in the top 15 of their respective races at the North Callaway Cross Country Invite and all four were in the top 25. Alexandra Tullius had a best finish in the girls 5,000 meters by taking fifth out of 28 with a time of 22:09.37, Mairyn Kinnaman was right behind her in sixth with a time of 22:17.75 and Landen Chapman finished 13th out of 34 runners in the boys 5,000 meters with a time of 18:35.36.

David Elzea was 25th in the boys race with a time of 21:34.06.

California’s Kenzleigh Goans had the top time in the girls race at 20:30.24, and St. Charles’ Nate Maples won the boys race with a time of 16:14.70.

Football

Paris rearranges staff, loses 40-9 to Allen-Jackman, Fayette

Paris head coach Joseph Utterback is proud of his team considering the week they had.

The Coyotes lost 40-9 on Friday at Lewis and Clark Conference foe Fayette after dealing with a shorter roster and some coaching changes. Utterback took over as the offensive line coach and delegated offensive coordinator responsibilities to Paul Turner, who was away this week after having a baby. Fayette quarterback Ben Wells threw for 382 yards on 16-for-19 passing, with all six of his touchdowns being complete to Chase Allen-Jackman — 294 yards on 10 catches.

Paris finished with 172 yards of total offense, with sophomore running back Gatlin Fountain running for 93 yards and a touchdown on eight carries. Reid Ragsdale led the defense with eight tackles, Gunnar Fountain and Owen Totten each had sacks, and Payden Crain had a fumble recovery. The Fayette offense finished with 482 yards of total offense.

The former offensive lineman Utterback said the changes made sense as being the head coach and offensive coordinator is a lot of responsibility plus him taking over the offensive line frees up the defensive coordinator to focus more on the defense.

“I called a lot of my mentors a couple weeks ago,” Utterback said. “I was like, ‘I got this guy on staff that can do a really good job playcalling.’ Maybe I could delegate that to him and allow me to focus on the big picture. I feel like I coach O-line really well so let me do O-line. I felt like that was the best interest of our team.”

Just as Paris as a rebuilding program is figuring which spots players fit, the same applies to the coaching staff. Turner couldn’t be there because of his new family member so Utterback said Paris had to live by a saying he’s heard since he was a kid: “if this is the situation, what is the best we can do for it.”

Considering the voluntary rearranging as well as the involuntary in the form of players being injured, Utterback said his players not only gave up but were eager to play even when the game was out of reach in the fourth quarter.

“When you get the seniors looking at you saying, ‘Can I go in? I think we can put some points up the board,’” Utterback said. “Two minutes left and we’re throwing our JV in there, trying to get our JV offense pieced together, Drew Williams, one of our seniors, is looking at me going, ‘Coach can I stay in.’ I was like, ‘Man, I wish. We got to keep everybody healthy that we can.’ I also understand him wanting to just go out there and play football.”

Not long after that, sophomore Gatlin Fountain ran for an 89-yard touchdown to give Paris its first touchdown after Paris had a long field goal kicked by Gunnar Fountain in the first quarter.

Fayette (4-2, 3-1 L&C) is a team that has always been aggressive while boasting big numbers, Utterback said, as the Falcons brought some pressure off the edge. This made it challenging for the offensive line, but there is a lot to worry about the position.

“One big thing I was looking for tonight was that our O-line sustained blocks,” Utterback said. “In evaluating the O-line, you have to have attention to detail. There’s a lot of little intricacies to it. Sustaining blocks, nothing else matters if you’re not doing that. I was looking for them to block to the whistle. I know there were several times we did not, but I also know there were several times that we did.”

Utterback said the Coyotes kept things simple on offense as they are trying to figure out what they are best at.

“I was pretty sold on the idea all week that we have to get good at something,” Utterback said. “I don’t want to try to do too much too soon. I feel like a lot of teams fail that way.”

Paris (1-5, 0-4 L&C) plays its homecoming game Friday against the undefeated Russellville (6-0), who defeated Crystal City 38-36 at home. The Indians’ program is in its third year.