The Tonopah Muckers beat the Beatty Hornets in an away game by a score of 38-16 (22-8, 0-0, 0-0, 16-8). With this win, Muckers Coach Duffy Otteson’s team has an overall record of 5-2, 4-0 in league and remains tied for first with Pahranagat Valley in league play.
The Muckers, led by Matt Misener, average an incredible 334-yards rushing per game.
Misener had 170 rushing yards, which gives him 1097 yards total for the season. During the game he scored two touchdowns and recorded two sacks to lead the Muckers to this important victory against Beatty.
Beatty dropped to 2-2 overall and 1-2 in league.
The Hornets opened the game with a touchdown, but shortly after, Otteson’s players returned the favor and never looked back.
Jason Carman led the Muckers in the first quarter, which ended up 8-22 Muckers. Carman had 15 carries for 85-yards rushing.
Neither of the two teams could keep the intense pace set earlier in the first quarter.
Otteson recognized the team had some problems in the early part of the game, mainly because of the fumbles.
“Our main problem in the game was ball security,” he said. “We seemed to struggle, when one thing went bad, it got worse.”
The Hornets made adjustments and shut the Muckers down for two quarters, but could not score themselves. Finally in the fourth quarter the Hornets closed the gap by scoring a touchdown that put them within a touchdown.
The Muckers answered with two touchdowns of their own in less than two minutes. The first one was scored by Matt Misener and was followed by another TD made by Connor Friel after a timely recovered fumble by Jason Carman, who did a flawless job in defense.
Carman had 11 tackles and two interceptions on defense and two scores on offense that helped to achieve this crucial win. Otteson said teamwork was the key to the victory in the fourth quarter.
“The kids came together and started playing good football again to pull out the win,” he said.
There is no game this Friday. The team will face the Thunderbirds on Oct. 24 (3-3, 1-2), a team they saw in preseason.
“This bye week is going to be good for our team,” Otteson said. “Our next goal is to win our next game at Indian Springs. They had our number the first game (22-14) and we hope to have a good game plan for Indian Springs this time,” Otteson said.
The team is having a good season so far with epic comebacks and last minute touchdowns and has two games remaining. The last game will be against the undefeated Pahranagat Valley at home.
“I like how the season is going. We are gradually becoming a better team,” the coach said.