Tigers blast past Bearcats, 42-7 WATCH THE VIDEO

MHS (3-0) continued their defensive aggressiveness with a dominant effort against the Paint Valley offense, allowing 161 yards rushing and 77 yards passing, but when push came to shove, the defense of the Tigers didn't allow a point when the entire starting defense was in the game for the entire drive. 

When asked what the biggest difference of the game was for the Bearcats, PV head coach Pete Hollon said two words. 

"Zach Matracia," Hollon said. " Zach was the difference in this game. He's one of the best I've seen, and I've been in this area for 30 years." 

But the offense of the Tigers had a coming out party with Matracia having his third straight 100-plus yard rushing game by gaining 144 yards (14.4 ypc) on 10 rushes in week three. This season, Matracia has 486 yards on the ground. 

Matracia wasn't the only Tiger to take the football for positive yardage on the ground. Quarterback Jordan Goble finished with 47 yards on four carries (3 for 3, 36 yards passing), and Jared Loftis had 58 yards on 10 rushes. Clayton Burgess had 21 yards on three carries. 

"We had a lot of young guys fill in tonight for different reasons," MHS head coach Randy Closson said. "Shaun Haddox and Chris Sellman filled in and did their jobs. We need to improve on our kickoff coverage, but overall I thought we did a nice job. 

"We also got the blocking schemes fixed, and we just focused on the basics." 

But on the Tigers' first drive of the game, it was the rushing attack of Loftis that put the Tigers on the board with a run of 17 yards from the 21-yard line which set up a goal line offense, allowing him to cruise his way two yards into the end zone on a second-and-goal play with 7:04 left in the opening quarter. Luis Rivas kicked the PAT through the uprights for a 7-0 lead by the Tigers. 

Also in the first scoring drive, Burgess and Matracia had positive rushing yards, and Zach Uhl made a 10 yard leaping grab with 9:20 left in the quarter with pressure from Paint Valley's Dylan Estep. 

The drive was set up when Matracia had an interception on the game's third play at the Paint Valley 39-yard line. 

McClain's defense continued to make life miserable for the Bearcat offense on their second possession with a three-and-out, giving up just six yards on the possession to force a punt. 

Again, the Tigers offense didn't disappoint the McClain faithful with the Men of McClain going on a seven-play, 73-yard touchdown drive with Goble holding the ball on an option-keeper, going around the corner on the Paint Valley side of the field for a 17 yard score. Rivas went 2 for 2 with his second extra point and an MHS 14-0 lead. 

In the scoring drive, Matracia started with a run of 14 yards, followed with a 13-yard keeper by Goble. Burgess, on second-and-9, pounded his way for a 16-yard gain to the PV 46-yard line. Two plays before the touchdown, Loftis had a three-yard gain, followed with a eight-yard run by Matracia. 

The Bearcats had an opportunity to stop the momentum of MHS and were doing a good job by keeping the ball on the ground with runs by Nolan Taylor and Brenan Dove, but the 12-play drive ended with a missed field goal that sailed wide-left with 5:49 left in the first half. 

With the miss, Tigers took advantage and added to their lead for a 10-point swing. 

In the second quarter, the Tigers began their fourth offensive drive with 5:49 remaining, and five plays later, including a 49-yard TD run by Matracia called back due to an MHS penalty, the Tigers were back into the end zone with Loftis catching a 9 yard pass from Goble for the score. The play was set up on a fake hand off to Matracia, with Goble rolling around and finding Loftis open in the end zone. The PAT made the score 21-0. 

The third scoring drive began with Loftis rushing for a 12-yard gain, starting from their own 19-yard line. On first-and-10, Loftis caught a 17 yard pass from Goble. Then came another heartbreaker to Matracia as he took the ball 49 yards to the end zone, but an illegal block call after 35 yards drew a flag and nullified the touchdown. 

In the past two games, Matracia has had four touchdown runs totaling 225 yards of rushing called back due to offensive flags. 

The fourth time Matracia had a TD called back in the past two weeks occurred on the first drive of the second half with the senior carrying the ball 59 yards for a would-be TD, but it was called back on a holding call. 

After a two or three play rest, Matracia went to the end zone again, and this time it counted, with 49 yard run to pay dirt with 9:29 left in the quarter. The run by Matracia included him going through the middle and crossing over toward the McClain side of the field all the way to the end zone. Rivas made the score a 28-point lead with the PAT. 

The fifth MHS TD came with 57.9 left in the third with sophomore Brandon Houston taking the ball nine yards into the end zone on third-and-5. The drive included a 25-yard reception by Dillon East off a pass by freshman Thomas Schrader. Schrader also found Uhl for a 21-yard catch on a third-and-8 play from the PV 34-yard line. The freshman QB led MHS in passing Friday with 46 yards. 

McClain's final score was on defense with Matracia intercepting a pass and taking it 43 yards for a touchdown, with 11:01 left in the fourth quarter. The play occurred on a first-and-27 on the PV 40-yard line. 

The Bearcats' touchdown came with 6:19 left in the fourth to stop the shutout when freshman Mark Clifford took the ball one yard to finish off a 12-play, 68-yard drive. 

PV (0-3) had runs of 7, 9, 5, 6 during the scoring drive by Clifford. Also in the drive, sophomore Riley Markko had a catch of 21 yards from junior first-year quarterback Eli Barker. 

"Mark is our future," Hollon said. "We are still young in key spots. We had the interception in the first, and we had that drive going in the second quarter, but we missed the field goal, and it snowballed from there." 

Leading the Bearcats offensively was fullback Nolan Taylor with 52 yards on 15 carries. Dove finished with 30 yards, ending his two-game 100-plus yardage streak. He entered the game with games of 164 and 104 yards. Dove also had two catches for 29 yards. Barker finished 6 of 15 for 77 yards passing. 

The Bearcats tried to regain possession of the ball on the kickoff but McClain sophomore Phillip Thompson fell on the football. 

MHS will host the London Red Raiders (1-2) in SCOL play next Friday at 7:30 p.m. 

GAME NOTES: Rivas was 6 for 6 in PATS and had three tackles on kickoffs for MHS … Thorne Hester made a tackle for negative yardage for the Tigers in the first quarter … T.J. Cox (MHS) had a tackle for loss in the second quarter … Loftis had a massive hit to break up a pass in the second on a third down forcing PV to attempt a field goal … Uhl had an interception taken away due to a MHS penalty … Brandon Darlington and Joe Barnhart had timely tackles in the fourth quarter … Savage had two carries for 10 yards for MHS … MHS freshman Chris Sellman rushed three times for five yards … For PV, Nate Barker had three carries for 24 yards, along with two catches for 18 yards … Robbie Wallace had one reception for five yards … Kyle Kottenbrook rushed for eight yards on one carry … Dove had three kickoff returns for over 30 yards.