This time there’s no second-half comeback

 
By Steve Bowman
Editor, The Brentwood Spirit
Email: bowmansj@sbcglobal.net

Jacob Clay rushed for 209 yards and six touchdowns on Friday as the Brentwood High School football team won by its biggest margin of the season, 53-0, at Cuba.

Clay leads St. Louis in scoring and last year his 45 touchdowns set a school record, but six in a game is a lot even for him. He has had five five-TD games and three weeks ago crossed the goal line seven times against JFK. But until Friday he had never ended up with six.

Just about everything worked for the Eagles’ offense. Clay and Kaylon Jenkins contributed 346 of the team’s 409 rushing yards. Skylar Sappington threw only five passes but completed four for 75 yards and a TD.

But the biggest difference between last year’s and this year’s Cuba games was in Brentwood’s defense. In 2014 Brentwood scored 41 but got sloppy in the second half and gave up 24. Not this time. Senior defensive back Corey Carroll took a big step from being an outstanding special teams player to helping lead the defense. He was tops with 16 tackles/assists and sacked a quarterback. D-back Joe Clay and linebacker Luke Tilton were in on a combined 24 tackles. Jenkins intercepted his fifth pass of the year and now leads St. Louis in that category.

But perhaps no player frustrated Cuba’s offense more than Justice Harris, who recovered three fumbles.

The Eagles are 5-0 with four games left in the regular season. At Principia on Saturday Jacob Clay should cross the 1,000-yard threshold for the third time. He now has 984 rushing yards. He ran for 2,554 yards last season and for 1,308 yards in 2013.

Scoring Summary
Brentwood: 14-20-12-07 — 53
Orchard Farm: 00-00-00-00 — 0

First-quarter scoring

Brentwood: Jacob Clay 15-yard run; Justice Harris pass from Jacob Clay
Score: 8-0, 4:53

Brentwood: Jacob Clay 70-yard run; run failed
Score: 14-0, 0:55

Second-quarter scoring

Brentwood: Jacob Clay 6-yard run; run failed
Score: 20-0, 8:20

Brentwood: Kaylon Jenkins 2-yard run; run failed
Score: 26-0, 4:33

Brentwood: Jacob Clay 9-yard pass from Skylar Sappington; Jacob Clay run
Score: 34-0, 0:01

Third-quarter scoring

Brentwood: Jacob Clay 10-yard run; kick failed
Score: 40-0, 11:06

Brentwood: Jacob Clay 10-yard run; kick failed
Score: 46-0, 6:14

Fourth-quarter scoring

Brentwood: DeAndre Boykin 19-yard run; Rob Bax kick
Score: 53-0, 4:18

Brentwood statistical leaders vs. Cuba
Rushing: Jacob Clay 14-209, Kaylon Jenkins 13-137, Luke Tilton 4-25, DeAndre Boykin 1-18.
Passing: Skylar Sappington 4 for 5, 75 yards, 1 TD, 0 interceptions.
Receiving: Justice Harris 2-41, Stephen Suntrup 2-27, Jacob Clay 1-10.
Kickoff returns: Harris 1-38.
Punt returns: Jenkins 1-45, Harris 1-19.
Interceptions: Jenkins.
Fumble recoveries: Harris 3.
Sacks: Corey Carroll.
Combined tackles/assists: Carroll 16, Joe Clay 12, Luke Tilton 12, Suntrup 9, Demetrius Graves 8, Sappington 7, Courtland Hill 7, Sam Tilton 7, Harris 4, Jenkins 4, Tayveon Brown 3, Jordon Tate 3, Justin Shipley 2, Cal Snare 1.

Brentwood’s St. Louis area stat leaders as of Sept. 20
From http://www.stlhighschoolsports.com
Jacob Clay: 1st, scoring; 3rd, rushing yards; 4th, total yards
Kaylon Jenkins: 1st, interceptions; 6th, return yards; 14th, punt return average
Skylar Sappington: 2nd, passing ratio; 10th, fumble recoveries
Brian Hutton: 2nd, QB sacks; 10th, fumble recoveries
Justice Harris: 3rd, fumble recoveries
Joe Clay: 10th, assists; 13th, total tackles/assists

Principia’s St. Louis area stat leaders as of Sept. 20
Sean Hannan: 3rd, fumble recoveries
Jake Gillum: 7th, interceptions

Brentwood’s 2015 schedule (5-0)
Beat Crystal City 58-6
Beat JFK 54-18
Beat Sumner 55-6
Beat Orchard Farm 39-7
Beat Cuba 53-0
Sept. 26, Saturday, away vs. Principia, 1 p.m.
Oct. 2, Friday, home vs. Lift for Life, 7 p.m.
Oct. 9, Friday, home vs. Liberty-Wentzville, 7 p.m.
Oct. 17, Saturday, away vs. Cleveland NJROTC, 1 p.m.
Oct. 23, Class 2 District 5 playoffs

Principia’s 2015 results (2-3)
Aug. 21: lost to Lutheran St. Charles 60-3
Aug. 29: lost to Sumner 36-9
Sept. 5: lost to Crystal City 30-0
Sept. 14: beat Barat 7-0
Sept. 19: beat Mo. Military Academy 28-2