When the lights are on and the alumni are back in town, you want to look your best. The Malcolm football team did just that when it played its most complete game of the season with a 40-7 rout of Louisville on homecoming night, Sept. 25 in Malcolm.
The Clippers struggled to move the ball through the first quarter-and-a-half. Three of the first four possessions ended with punts while a fumble was the cause of another failed drive.
“We came out flat,” Malcolm head coach Scott Amen said. “I think with all the distractions of a busy homecoming week and wanting to look good in front of the home crowd, it took a little while to settle in.”
Things changed midway through the second quarter when a Louisville drive stalled on the Malcolm 23-yard line. The Clippers needed just three plays to score as Gavin Zoucha got loose on a 47-yard run down the sideline. On the next play, Malcolm Saltzman went 29 yards up the middle on a quarterback keeper before scoring on a one-yard sneak to put the Clippers on the board.
“Once we figured out how they were overloading our strong side, we knew what we could do to beat them,” Amen said. “Both of those long runs were to our weak side and we had the mismatch we wanted.”
After the Malcolm defense stopped Louisville on the ensuing drive, Drew Walters turned would-be disaster into a thing of beauty when a mishandled punt had him heading the wrong direction before he turned up field and got a blue line of blockers to spring him for a 61-yard return to the Louisville 12-yardline.
Two plays later, Saltzman connected with Colby Sizemore to give the Clippers a 14-0 lead heading into the half.
The momentum carried into the third quarter as Saltzman found a wide open Sizemore for a 65-yard touchdown on the first play of the half.
“Our coaches upstairs told us their safeties were cheating up a lot,” Amen said. “We decided to take a chance, and Malcolm threw a perfect ball.
“There aren’t many people that can catch Colby when he’s running in open territory.”
It was all Malcolm the rest of the way as the Clippers scored on their next three possessions. Zoucha found the end zone twice on short runs before Lucas Christensen tore through the Louisville defense for a 48-yard touchdown.
The Lions’ lone score came early in the fourth quarter when backup quarterback Sam Ahl stretched across the goal line on a fourth down play from about six inches out.
The Clippers finished with 385 yards of offense including 111 yards rushing by Zoucha.
“Once he got into a rhythm, Gavin was running hard,” Amen said. “We probably ran him more than we should have, but it was working and he was having fun running guys over.”
The Malcolm defense held the Lions to 204 total yards.
“We keep telling our guys to go out and have fun,” Amen said. “That’s what they were doing in that second half and it freed them up to make plays.”
Malcolm (3-2) has a tough test this week as it travels to No. 5 Ashland-Greenwood (5-0).
“They’ve been one of the best teams in C1 for quite a while,” Amen said. “It’s a challenge we’re looking forward to and we’ll have our guys ready to play.”
