Houston Academy blasts Wicksburg, sets school record for points in a game
Houston Academy head coach Eddie Brundidge was counting his blessings after Friday's game against Wicksburg in having Kadyn Mitchell as a quarterback.
Mitchell, a five-year starter at HA, threw for 352 yards and four touchdowns, including his career 100th scoring pass, as the Raiders totally dominated the Panthers 66-22 at Northcutt Field, smashing a school record for points in a game.
The 66 points broke the previous school record of 64 set by the 2005 team against New Brockton. The HA point total was also the most by either team in the 48-year series history and the combined 88 points were also a series record.
The story of the night was Mitchell, the Raiders' senior quarterback.
"I'm just glad he is on my team," Brundidge said. "I'm glad I have been a part of his life. He is not only a great football player, but a super, super kid. I can't say enough good things about him.
"He lives, eats, drinks and sleeps it (football). His aspirations are to continue to play (in college), and I want to do everything I can to help him. Most coaches don't get to coach a kid like Kadyn. It has been a blessing."
Mitchell completed 13-of-16 passing on the night, hitting seven passes of 29 or more yards, including touchdown passes of 43, 59 and 33 to go with a 15-yard scoring pass.
The Raider quarterback deflected the praise to others, including offensive coordinator Don Jacobs.
"I got on the headsets with coach Jacobs and we figured out that they were trying to take away our short passes as they hit our inside receivers as they came off the ball, so we knew if we wanted to get the ball out, we would have to throw it down field," Mitchell said. "Credit to the offensive line for giving me time to be able to throw the ball down field, to the receivers for getting open and coach Jacobs for the play calling."
His second touchdown – a 59-yarder to Gabe Glover – late in the first half gave him 100 for his career since he started playing at Houston Academy as an eighth grader. He added two more in the second half to boost his career total to 102.
According to the AHSAA website, he is the 11th player in history to reach the 100-career TD passing milestone. He is only one shy of tying for 10th place (103, Jeremy Yates, Colbert Heights, 2004-07).
"It is a blessing," Mitchell said of reaching the milestone. "I couldn't have done it without my teammates that I have now and teammates I have had in the past and without coach Brundidge and coach Jacobs for having enough faith in me to even let me air it out when we could run the ball every week. I thank them for that."
With his 352 yards passing, Mitchell boosted his career total to 6,927, leaving him just 73 yards from becoming the 32nd player to reach 7,000, according to the ASHAA website. On Friday, he surpassed five players on the list, including Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston of Hueytown (6,971, 2008-11) and former Alabama quarterback Tyler Watts (6,838, 1994-97).
"A lot of that is him, but a lot of credit goes to coach Jacobs," Brundidge said of the offensive coordinator who came to HA during Mitchell's freshman season. "Coach Jacobs has done an outstanding job of coaching him and getting him to where he is at. Not only having Kadyn, but also coach Jacobs is another blessing."
Mitchell wasn't the only standout on Friday. Running back Andrew Gil rushed for four touchdowns, giving the Raiders a rare feat of a rusher with four touchdowns and a passer with four TDs in the same game.
"I don't know if I have ever seen that," Brundidge said. "That shows the depth of our skill people. Not only having him (Gil), but also Ervain (Reynolds) and Hughes (Williams) all in the same backfield along with Ty (Morris), who could get more time, but he is young."
Mitchell and the Raiders didn't waste time in getting rolling.
After the defense forced a three-and-out and a punt to open the game, it took HA one play to get on the scoreboard – a 43-yard Mitchell to Brayden Eubanks throw in the middle of the field. The extra point was good, making it 7-0 less than two minutes into the game.
The Raider defense got it right back to Mitchell one play into the Panthers' series on an interception by Thomas Buntin. The Wicksburg defense held, thanks to a batted down pass by Izaac Murray on third down. However, HA's Nate Selig booted a 34-yard field goal to make it 10-0 with 8:35 to go in the first quarter.
Gil scored touchdown runs of 4, 3, 2 yards on the next three possessions, extending the Raiders' lead to 31-0. The first series was highlighted when Gil caught a pass over the middle and broke three tackles on a 22-yard pick-up plus a 44-yard pass from Mitchell to Glover. The second series was sparked by runs of 14 by Reynolds and 23 and 12 yards by Gil, who finished the night with 75 yards rushing on 11 carries. A 16-yard run by Mitchell and a 15-yard penalty on Wicksburg ignited the third series.
Mitchell then threw his 59-yard touchdown pass to Glover with 1:38 left before intermission to make it 38-0. It was a special night for Glover, a Wicksburg transfer in the offseason. He caught four passes for 148 yards and two touchdowns against his former school.
Wicksburg tallied in the half's final seconds on a 23-yard touchdown pass from Seth Williams to Cooper Morrison, who outfought a defender for the score in making it 38-7. A couple plays earlier Morrison out-leaped a defender on a 56-yard catch.
Gil scored on a 1-yard run on the first series of the third quarter, one play after a 49-yard Mitchell to Riggs Hickey pass. Mitchell added TD passes of 15 yards to Reynolds and 33 yards to Glover to extend the Raiders' advantage to 59-7 with 59.7 seconds left in the third quarter.
The Panthers struck early in the fourth quarter when quarterback John Carter Cole broke several tackles on a 69-yard touchdown run and scored late on a 7-yard Cole to Morrison touchdown pass.
In between, HA back-up quarterback Judson Bailey scored on a 15-yard run. Third-string quarterback Harrison Milanowski ripped off runs of 16 and 47 yards to put the Raiders at the 1 in the game's final seconds, but Houston Academy kneeled to end the game on the next play.
Mitchell said the Raiders were motivated in a lot of ways in Friday's game, including from Wicksburg, which appealed to the AHSAA during the week to deny the Raiders from wearing their Carolina blue uniforms, saying they were too close to the road team white uniforms. HA wore their dark uniforms instead.
"There was a lot of motivation," Mitchell said. "We wanted to win this game for Gabe and also to beat Wicksburg, which is a rival. Also playing at home with our home crowd, the whole jersey situation that got everybody hyped up. We are all ready for the game and we all executed."
