By Thomas Sellers Jr.
For the first time since 2019, the Kirby Cougars hit the gridiron under the Friday night lights.
The Cougars made the trip to Mooney Boswell Field to take on the host Millington Trojans to kickoff the 2021 football season. Kirby along with all the other Shelby County Schools had play suspended in 2020 because of the global pandemic.
Meanwhile the Trojans navigated a whirlwind campaign last season to piece together 10 games. Both squad entered the 2021 opener knowing the challenges they would face were heat, new-season jitters, rusty officiating and limited roster. The final whistle of the night game in overtime with Kirby edging out the Trojans 24-18.
“It’s a first game,” Millington Head Coach Chris Michael said. “We talked about this a couple of weeks ago. We went out and scouted Kirby. They had a scrimmage at the FCA Camp against Cordova. Kind of got a feel for what they did and what they were. We just talked about it on the ride home, ‘We can beat this team.’
“But it is going to come down to the team that makes the least amount of mistakes, less turnovers,” he added. “Ultimately that what it was. We turned the ball over and gave them easy scoring opportunities. That’s just part of what it comes down to. In the early part of the season, the team that makes the fewest mistakes is going to be the one who pulls out the victory.”
The first offensive series for the Trojans was successful with quarterback McCoy Pugh hitting receiver Brandon Warner on a slant for a 57-yard touchdown. Garrett Haley added a two-point conversion run to make the tally 8-0.
Kirby (1-0) got on the scoreboard for the first time in 2021 in the first quarter after a interception. The Cougars capitalized on the Millington miscue with a Cameron Saines 4-yard TD run. The score was 8-6 in favor of the Trojans after one period.
“We thought we were evenly matched with them,” Michael said. “We had a lot of the same challenges they did. They didn’t have a lot of substitutes. We knew we would be battling the same things as far as depth. It was just going to come down to whoever could execute and not turn that ball over.”
Kirby took the lead in the second quarter with a touchdown pass making the tally 12-8 at halftime in favor of the Cougars.
Millington (0-1) started to get some offensive flow going to senior Haley. With reception and a running play Haley set up his very own 19-yard touchdown run. A key block by fellow senior Cortlynn Barnes allowed Haley’s Jett Sweep carry reach the end zone to make the score 15-12.
The Trojan defense started to limit the Cougar offense with Jonathan Temple-Dowdy earning a pair of turnovers with an interception to end the third quarter. And Temple-Dowdy’s over turnover was a fumble recovery in the fourth period.
With less than third minutes left in regulation Kirby surged ahead with a 5-yard TD run to make the score 18-15.
Millington marched the ball down the field deep into Cougar territory. Then the Trojans faced a fourth down with two yard to go at the 7-yard line.
“We got down here and we should have scored the ball and ended it,” Michael acknowledged. “We just came up a little short from punching it in. Fortunately our kicking game came through and tied it up.”
Trojan sophomore kicker Chase Michael drilled the 24-yard field goal with 23 seconds left in the fourth quarter to deadlock the game.
“We missed three tackles there on the first play in overtime,” Michael recalled. “They punched it end. They were tired and gassed. At the moment they were about to execute better than we did.”
Kirby took the lead for good in the first play of overtime with a 10-yard TD run. Millington had an uphill battle with linemen Levy Smith and TJ Graves out of the game because of injuries.
The Cougars shut down Millington on its possession in overtime and Kirby left Flag City victorious.
“We have a freshman and two sophomores, all of them are capable runners,” Michael said. “We’re confident in their ability to run. They’re getting better every day in practice. Our issue is we don’t have any experience or depth along the offensive line.
“We’re trying them bring them along,” he concluded. “We’ve got a bunch of kids but we have a bunch of kids who have never played before the game of football.”
The Cougars will return home next Friday to take on the Southwind Jaguars. Meanwhile another set of Cougars will be heading to Flag City next week when Munford comes to Millington for the annual M&M Bowl.
