By FRANCIS FEDOR
The Sumner Stingrays, coming off a 75 point night vs. Brandon, continued to light up the scoreboard with a 61-0 win on the road over Freedom High School. The Stingrays moved their record to 2-1 on the season and will face the 0-2 Spoto at 7:30 on Friday, Sept. 17, at Sumner High School.
The Stingrays got the scoring started with a Kylen Webb 20-yard touchdown run. In the early going, junior running backs Kylen Webb and Keoni Denny accounted for four of the first five TDs with two each and combined for 102 yards rushing on the evening. Kylen and Keoni have been offensive stars for the running game in this early season. Stingray sophomore QB Greg Smith III, who is embracing the starting QB role, added the second TD on a three-yard dash. Keoni Denny then added his two back-to-back touchdowns on carries of 13 and 14 yards. Kylen completed the sequence with his second TD run of 25 yards, and the rout was on. Sumner tacked on two more scores before the end of the first half with Greg Smith III connecting with senior A.J. Haugabook for an 11-yard score, and freshman Cameron White intercepted the Freedom QB and ran it into the end-zone to close out the scoring for the first half. The Stingrays have now scored 109 first half points in their last two games, ending the competitive portion of the games before the second half starts.
The Stingrays added two more scores in the second half on a seven-yard TD run by senior RB Justin Mitchell, and Keoni Denny, who is playing as a two-way player, picked up a forced fumble and took it into the end-zone for the final TD score of the night. Sumner’s stout defense, which hasn’t given up a single point in the last two games, continues to compliment the high powered offense. The Stingray defense forced six turnovers on the night, with three interceptions and three forced fumbles, consistently giving the offense great field position, and the offense is finishing those opportunities with TDs. The Stingray offense racked up 258 yards for the 60 point night.
Spoto will be next up to face the challenge of the Stingrays, coming into the “Tank” to try to slow down this hungry Sumner squad. Will the Stingray’s first half feeding frenzy continue? Come on out to Sumner HS at 7:30 on Friday night to find out!