CASTLEWOOD — It had been a miserable start to the 2023 football season for both teams.
The slump ended on Friday at B.C. White Stadium for Lebanon. Riding the arm of sophomore quarterback Mike Reece, the Pioneers defeated Castlewood 49-6 to put their first notch in the win column.
“This feels sweet,” Reece said. “We came out all week and worked hard. We respect the Castlewood team, they have a great coach. I’m good friends with Coach [Bubba] Edwards, but we just executed tonight.”
Reece didn’t have much time to throw the ball in losses to Honaker, Patrick Henry, and Marion. The line performed well against the Blue Devils, giving him time to locate receivers. Reece was 11-of-15 passing for 200 yards and four touchdowns.
“Our line stepped up,” stated Reece. “I couldn’t be prouder of them. I couldn’t ask for a better performance, they gave me time to find my targets. Everyone had a great game.
“My arm felt good, you have to trust your receivers to complete those passes. It all starts with having trust in those guys.”
His favorite target was Toby Baker, who had seven receptions for 69 yards with two TDs.
“Now we have a little momentum going for us,” Baker said. “We needed a game like this to get our confidence back up. We know with the team we are the team we have, we can be successful. We needed a game like this to get us going and get us rolling.”
Things couldn’t have started any worse for Castlewood (0-4). They have been unable to put together a clean game. Their first three possessions against the Pioneers resulted in turnovers.
“It’s the same story for us,” Coach Edwards said. “I don’t want to take anything away from Lebanon, they played a heck of a game, the Reece kid made the plays when he needed to, but man, we just can’t get out of our own way. Too many turnovers, we’re not lining up correctly at times, but we’re just going to have to keep plugging away. We just have to keep trying to get better and learn the game within the game.
“Hat’s off to [Lebanon coach Darrell Taylor], I know D.T. was looking for a win, and he has to be excited. They put a good game plan together, shut us down, and moved the ball. They did a great job.”
Things didn’t start well for Lebanon (1-3). Castlewood fumbled the ball on their second offensive play, and Carter Dillon recovered it for the Pioneers. The same thing happened to Lebanon, fumbling the ball after two plays, and Seth Farmer pounced on it for Castlewood.
Peyton Mabry picked off a pass to get the ball back for Lebanon. Reece lofted a 52-yard TD pass to Luke Garrett, and the Pioneers were on their way, scoring TDs on six consecutive possessions. Dalton Long added a “Pick 6” by returning an interception 80 yards for their second score.
Reece then found Maddox Nuckols with a 26-yard TD pass to put Lebanon up 21-0 with 30 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
Kalib Simmons had an eight-yard TD rush, it was sandwiched by TD catches of 18 and 22 yards by Baker for a 42-0 advantage at the break.
The clock ran continuously in the second half with the mercy rule. Jordan Johnson had a 28-yard TD run in the third quarter for the Pioneers. Castlewood averted a shutout in the fourth frame when Brayden Houchins tossed an 11-yard scoring pass to Forrest McConnell.
“Anytime you can get to goose egg off the standings, it always feels good,” Coach Taylor said. “Second series, we settled in and executed better. The previous three weeks, we had been shooting ourselves in the foot. We started with the fumble tonight, but good things started to happen after we cleaned everything up.”
Reece and his receivers can cause problems for any defense if allotted the time to throw.
“Mike does a good job of reading and taking what he has, if he has time, that’s the key,” remarked Taylor. “He’s been doing a good job of running the ball too. We’ve given him some liberty to go to checks when he sees a blitz and pressure.
“I think another big key to the offense was running the ball. Any time you can run the ball, it helps your passing game, too.”
Seven different backs combined for 281 yards on the ground. Johnson led the way with 85 yards rushing.