Airport shuts out Lower Richland

Airport kept Lower Richland receiver Larry Collins out of the game, and the Diamond Hornets off the scoreboard Friday night.

The Eagles’ defense shut down their opponent’s star receiver, while they kept on rushing to a 30-0 victory at Lower Richland Stadium to move to 3-0 on the season.

Josh Tucker, playing in place of starting quarterback Brett Burnett, threw touchdown passes of 12 and 6 yards to Kerryon Richardson and Alec Spooner, respectively. Paxton Brooks closed out the first half with a 29-yard field goal to give the Eagles a 16-0 lead.

Spooner came down with his touchdown reception awkwardly, however, and broke his right leg. The senior tight end is out for the season.

TURNING POINT

Down 13-0, Lower Richland finally put together a drive that reached the Airport 6-yard line. Airport’s Kerryon Richardson intercepted a Tevaughn Higgins pass and returned it to the 15. The Eagles then knocked out a 16-play, 73-yard drive that Paxton Brooks capped with a 29-yard field goal with 55 seconds to go in the first half.

KEY PERFORMERS

Jonathon Earl: The Airport running back rushed for a game-high 129 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries.

Zach Feaster: The Eagles fullback only carried the ball six times times, but burst for 105 yards — all in the second half.

Airport Defense: The unit held Lower Richland to just 93 rushing yards and 163 passing yards. The Eagles also forced two fumbles, made an interception and sacked Tevaughn Higgins twice.

OBSERVATIONS

All Quiet in the South Stands Press Box: Technical difficulties before the game kept the public address system muted for most of the game.

Big play conversions: Both teams faced long-yardage situations several times. Lower Richland used a pair of 20-plus yard plays to keep its only long drive of the first half alive. Airport used a 46-yard Josh Tucker-to-Jon Eric Kirkland pass to keep its first scoring drive alive, and a 17-yard third-down conversion play late in the second quarter to keep its third scoring drive alive.

Injury report: Alec Spooner fell injured in the end zone after catching a 6-yard TD pass in the first quarter. The tight end broke his right leg and will be out for the season.

THEY SAID IT

“They (Lower Richland) throw the ball all over the place, and to hold one of the best receivers in the state (Larry Collins) to no catches like that, that’s probably one of the best defensive performances in the history of the school. I thought Josh (Tucker) did a great job of quarterback, he did a great job of running the offense and did a great job of pushing those guys around.” – Airport head coach Kirk Burnett

“That’s been kind of the bell cow for us in getting off to a good start offensively. They doubled Collins and we expected that, they won the battle on the line of scrimmage, and cut off our mobile game, our quick game. They stopped us from running the ball effectively. Bad snaps took us out of two scoring opportunities. You’ve got to give Airport credit, they did the things they needed to do.” – Lower Richland head coach Darryl Page

“We’re all down about that, he’s a great senior leader, a great player on both sides of the ball.” – Burnett on losing Spooner for the season.

THREE KEY NUMBERS

45: Number of yards lost on Lower Richland’s fumble on a high snap at the Airport 15 in the fourth quarter. The Eagles took over at the Diamond Hornets 40 and later scored on a Jonathon Earl’s 13-yard TD run.

16: Number of penalties for both teams. Airport had eight for 65 yards, Lower Richland had eight for 80.

0: Number of catches that Lower Richland standout wide reciver Larry Collins had.

HOW THEY SCORED

1st Quarter

A – Kerryon Richardson 12 pass from Josh Tucker (kick failed) 5:22

2nd Quarter

A – Alec Spooner 6 pass from Tucker (Paxton Brooks kick) 10:26

A – Brooks 29 field goal :55

4th Quarter

A – Jonathon Earl 13 run (Brooks kick) 6:34

A – Earl 1 run (Brooks kick 4:18)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing: Airport –Jonathon Earl 19-129, Zach Feaster 6-105, Kerryon Richardson 6-20, Josh Tucker 13-19. Lower Richland – Tevaughn Higgins 8-5, Fred Cunningham 8-19, Keyon Hair 1-9, Jordan Daniels 3-15.

Passing: Airport – Josh Tucker 11-7-0. Lower Richland –Tevaughn Higgins 32-19-1.

Receiving: Airport – Kerryon Richardson 3-44, Jon Eric Kirkland 2-47, Alec Spooner 1-6, Osiris Hairston 1-14.Lower Richland – Chandler Ponds 1-13, Fred Cunningham 2-38, Jonathan Murphy 5-28, Keyon Hair 8-62, Ben Jakcson 1-0, Ronald Rogers 2-22.

This story was originally published September 12, 2015 at 12:03 AM with the headline "Airport shuts out Lower Richland."