The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO

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September 8, 2012

Sumners helps Aurora past Seneca

By Craig Hull The Joplin Globe

AURORA, Mo. — With 9:30 remaining in the game and Aurora leading 21-7, Clayton Sumners and the Houn’ Dawg offense took over on its 20 yard line.

When you possess a 5-foot-8, 185 pound powerback in Everett Basham, few inside a soggy Kelly Stadium on Friday night doubted who would get the ball repeatedly in an effort to run out the clock and secure the Houn’ Dawgs third victory of the season.

Sure, Basham played a key role in a 10-play, 80-yard drive with four touches, but it was the arm of Sumners who made a number of key plays.

Sumners, a 6-foot-5, 185 pound senior quarterback, completed 7 of 10 passes for 126 yards earning his first victory over Seneca in his prep career with a 27-15 Big 8 Conference victory.

“It’s nice to get over that Seneca hump,’’ said Sumners, who also added 19 yards rushing on six carries. “I’ve never beat them during my high school career.’’

Of his seven completions, Sumners hit four in row during the decisive final touchdown drive. He connected with Basham for 12 yards on the second play, Andrew Parker for 15 yards on the fourth snap, hit Cody Coatney for a six-yard completion on third down to give Aurora a first down at the Seneca 40 and then went back to Coatney for a 33-yard strike to set up a first-and-goal at the Seneca 5.

Basham scored his third touchdown on the next play for a 27-7 lead.

“We wanted to come out on that drive, spread it out and try to catch them off guard,’’ Sumners said. “Cody was running the deep corner and then we had three other options underneath and he was wide open. He got hurt on the play and hopefully he will be OK.’’

Said Aurora head coach Rich Scholten: “For the first two weeks of the season, (running the ball) is what we did. I have the tendency to get conservative in what we do. Tonight, we ran our offense and allowed several kids to get their hands on the ball because we have several kids who can make plays.’’

Basham got his rushing yards, 130 yards on 27 carries, with touchdown runs of 10, 7 and 5.

Junior William Blankenship, who split carries between tailback and fullback with Basham, added 50 yards on 11 carries. His two-yard touchdown run in the final minute of the first quarter gave Aurora 14-0 lead.

Seneca (1-2) got on the scoreboard in the second quarter with a 15-play, 79-yard drive capped by junior quarterback Payton Rawlins’ sneak with 1:29 left in the half.

Basham’s third quarter touchdown gave the Houn’ Dawgs another two-touchdown lead.

Seneca, taking over at its 39 with 11:50 left in the game, needed seven plays to move the ball to the Aurora 20 where on fourth down, Kurt Hadlow batted down a Rawlins pass setting up the decisive Aurora drive.

“Our defense stepped up and played a great game. I felt like we got fast when we needed to get fast, I thought we had some seniors make some great plays,’’ said Scholten.

Basham had an interception early in the game, Hadlow and Sumners defended several passes and defensive tackle Josh McCulloch had a sack.

The Indians scored their second touchdown with 2:54 left with Rawlins connecting with Braxton Graham for an 11-yard pass and hitting Kyler Ng for the 2-point conversion.

Rawlins finished 14 of 24 for 158 yards. Marty Mailes had 117 yards on 24 carries.

“We didn’t match Aurora’s intensity level tonight,’’ Seneca head coach Dan Scheible said. “Basham is good, physical football player and they made some nice plays. But we made too many mistakes. I thought with the wind at our back in the fourth quarter we would be able to make some plays, but we didn’t.’’

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