The Southern Lab kittens were able to get back in the win column with a great defensive showing against the Kentwood Kangaroos. The Kittens now move to 4-3 on their season, and Kentwood now sits at 5-3.
On this Thursday night game, it was two evenly stacked teams with many key players on both sides. This was a defensive game, as you can see by the low score. The lone TD from the first half was scored by Trevoris Norman. They followed up on this TD with a big and crucial punt return from Marquez Williams in the 3rd.
This was a game where the defensive players showed out and displayed the importance of having a good defense in today’s game. Both team’s were committed to the run and both teams were committed towards stopping it as well. That said, after the Kittens went up 13-0 early in the 2nd half, they were met immediately with a TD from Chance Briggs to cut the lead to within 5. After this TD, both defenses allowed 0 points for the rest of the game.
Some of the standout players that were able to help lead the Kittens to victory were QB, Jerry Bottley, who had key conversions on 3rd and 4th down throughout the entire game and maintained control of the offense regardless of the score. The duo of RBs, Armriyan Asberry and Trevoris Norman, who set the tone with their runs all night with a rushing TD from the latter. WR Marquez Williams, with the punt return that got them a 13 point lead in the 3rd as well. As for Kentwood, Chance Briggs had a receiving TD and some more receptions during the game. QB, Ahmade Bickam Jr who had a passing TD and displayed his ability to be a dual threat all night. Along with DB, Jermaine Brown Jr, who intercepted Bottley in the end-zone late in the 2nd and played both ways all night.
After the game, I was able to talk to Coach Asberry.
“You know, that team is not wasn’t a slouch, so I knew it was going to come down to the wire, always does. My hat’s off to coach and his team, that’s a tough football team. For our team, I thought we played well enough to win. Defensively we stepped it up, but they started leaning on the run, everybody thinks they can run the football on us, so we made a few adjustments down the stretch.”
Coach Asberry when asked how he thought they played.
“We adjusted some things with our D-line and we started applying a bit more pressure. Coach is just like me, he’s an offensive guy, who’s gonna want to throw that ball a little bit, but we kind of held him back. He didn’t throw it, secondary did an excellent job. They like to do that fake screen and go, they state and coverage. Great referee crew, they let us play tonight. Hats off to those guys.”
Coach Asberry when asked on how he was able to maintain and adjust to hold them to only 8 points
“Well,we have Central Private next week. We’re on Friday night, we’re gonna go in and try to take care of business and find out, continue this wind streak. It’s been a tough last three weeks for us. We’ve never lost three in a row, so it’s rough around here and our neck to the woods when you lose three in the row.”
Coach Asberry when asked what can we expect to see next week
After tongihts impressive defensive outing, the Southern Lab Kittens now move to 4-3 on their season and 1-0 in their district. Their next game will be at home, against Central private next Friday. Meanwhile, the Kentwood Kangaroos now sit at 5-3 on their season and 0-1 in their district. Their next game will be at home, against Thrive Academy.
Check out some photos that I took of the game!