Turnovers sink Sentinels' chances against Kearns
Aug 24, 2020 11:20AM ● By Justin Adams
By Justin Adams | [email protected]
A handful of critical mistakes and untimely turnovers were too much for the Mountain Ridge Sentinels football to overcome on Friday night as they lost to the Kearns Cougars, 41-14.
"We turned the ball over, and couldn't stop them on defense. That's pretty much it," said head coach Mike Meifu after the game.
The Sentinels competed pretty evenly with the Cougars in the opening quarter, as the offense was able to drive within the 20-yard line on its first two possessions. But the first possession stalled out and ended on a missed field goal and the second possession ended with a fumble on the one yard line.
Things started looking a little better for Mountain Ridge in the second quarter. Junior Quarterback Ayden Helm reeled off a long run all the way down to the Kearns 1-yard line, then finished the drive a few plays later with a touchdown pass to wide receiver Jordan Day.
The Sentinels then got the ball back a couple minutes later with five minutes left before halftime. Despite some early game mistakes, they had a chance to score a touchdown and tie the game up before halftime. It sure felt like it was going to happen, as Helm completed a 40-yard pass on the first play of the drive. But a fumble on the very next play was recovered by the Kearns defense.
The Cougars scored a touchdown a few plays later to extend their lead to 21-7. To make matters worse, the Sentinels' next possession ended with an interception with just 37 seconds remaining in the half. But again, Kearns capitalized on the turnover by adding one more touchdown. Instead of tying things up before the half, Mountain Ridge went to the locker room suddenly down by three scores.
It ended up being a hole too large for the Sentinels to climb out of, as they added just one more touchdown in the second half, for a final score of 41-14.
When asked if last week's emotional win (the first in program history) had a hangover effect on the team as they prepared for Kearns, Meifu acknowledged that it may have impacted their practices leading up to the game.
"We didn't practice well. That's on us as coaches. We didn't prepare well enough and that's what happens when you face a good team," he said.
This week, the team will be focusing on perfecting "the little things, the fundamentals" as they prepare for Hurricane, said Meifu.
The match against Hurricane will be Friday, Aug. 28 at 7 p.m., and will be the Sentinels' first home game of the season.
A handful of critical mistakes and untimely turnovers were too much for the Mountain Ridge Sentinels football to overcome on Friday night as they lost to the Kearns Cougars, 41-14.
"We turned the ball over, and couldn't stop them on defense. That's pretty much it," said head coach Mike Meifu after the game.
The Sentinels competed pretty evenly with the Cougars in the opening quarter, as the offense was able to drive within the 20-yard line on its first two possessions. But the first possession stalled out and ended on a missed field goal and the second possession ended with a fumble on the one yard line.
Things started looking a little better for Mountain Ridge in the second quarter. Junior Quarterback Ayden Helm reeled off a long run all the way down to the Kearns 1-yard line, then finished the drive a few plays later with a touchdown pass to wide receiver Jordan Day.
The Sentinels then got the ball back a couple minutes later with five minutes left before halftime. Despite some early game mistakes, they had a chance to score a touchdown and tie the game up before halftime. It sure felt like it was going to happen, as Helm completed a 40-yard pass on the first play of the drive. But a fumble on the very next play was recovered by the Kearns defense.
The Cougars scored a touchdown a few plays later to extend their lead to 21-7. To make matters worse, the Sentinels' next possession ended with an interception with just 37 seconds remaining in the half. But again, Kearns capitalized on the turnover by adding one more touchdown. Instead of tying things up before the half, Mountain Ridge went to the locker room suddenly down by three scores.
It ended up being a hole too large for the Sentinels to climb out of, as they added just one more touchdown in the second half, for a final score of 41-14.
When asked if last week's emotional win (the first in program history) had a hangover effect on the team as they prepared for Kearns, Meifu acknowledged that it may have impacted their practices leading up to the game.
"We didn't practice well. That's on us as coaches. We didn't prepare well enough and that's what happens when you face a good team," he said.
This week, the team will be focusing on perfecting "the little things, the fundamentals" as they prepare for Hurricane, said Meifu.
The match against Hurricane will be Friday, Aug. 28 at 7 p.m., and will be the Sentinels' first home game of the season.
Mountain Ridge vs Kearns [6 Images]
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