South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

Panthers thump Marquette in 49-21 win

Jennifer Naunheim photo
Jennifer Naunheim photo

The Mehlville Senior High School football team got back on track Friday night with a 49-21 thumping of Marquette.

The win for Mehlville (4-2, 3-1 Suburban West) featured an offense that racked up 438 yards rushing.

“We played a good ball game,” Mehlville head coach Gary Heyde said. “We’ve been running the ball pretty well this year and we’ve had four different players be the leading rusher in a game.”

Mehlville jumped out to a 7-0 lead with 10:15 to play in the first quarter when junior running back Philip Blair caught a 23-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Alexis Reedus. Blair, who had been battling being ill, caught two passes for 36 yards and also carried the ball six times for 36 yards and three touchdowns.

The Panthers took a 14-0 lead with 6:38 left in the quarter on a 30-yard touchdown run by junior running back Tyrone Clark.

He finished the evening with five carries for 82 yards and one reception for 17 yards and one touchdown.

“All of Tyrone’s runs were on sweeps,” Heyde said. “He, Phil Blair and Alexis played both ways and they’ve played really well this year.

Blair scored his second touchdown of the evening on an 18-yard run with 11:01 left in the second quarter to give the Panthers a 21-0 lead. Reedus garnered a touchdown of his own as he eluded the Mustangs’ defense on a 63-yard run with 8:13 left in the quarter to give Mehlville a 28-0 lead.

The senior quarterback led the Panthers with 138 yards rushing on five carries. He also completed four of seven passes for 65 yards and one touchdown.

“Alexis keeps getting better every week and we keep expanding what he’s doing with the offense,” Heyde said. “We’re letting him run the ball a little bit more because he’s pretty elusive and has really good speed.”

Marquette finally got on the scoreboard with a one-yard touchdown run by Matt Warrick with 1:31 left in the first half. But the Panthers refused to let the Mustangs have the last say in the first half when running back Joel Fieseler hammered away a one-yard touchdown run with 36 seconds left in the second quarter. The senior running back carried the ball seven times for 71 yards and one touchdown.

“That drive was about 75 yards and most of that was Joel,” Heyde said. “He had some really nice runs during that drive.”

Mehlville came out on fire in the third quarter when Blair scored his third touchdown of the evening on a three-yard run with 9:17 left in the quarter.

Mehlville’s Byron Puckett brought the score to 49-7 with a 30-yard touchdown run with 5:25 left in the third quarter. The senior running back, who normally plays on special teams, carried the ball two times for 27 yards and one touchdown.

“We put our non-starters in and Byron plays a lot on special teams,” the Mehlville head coach said. “It’s nice to see when you put guys like Byron in and they go out there and get the job done.”

Marquette brought the score to 49-14 on a 58-yard touchdown run with 9:16 left in the fourth quarter. The Mustangs then scored their first touchdown pass of the game when quarterback Nicco Mendes connected with Ben White on an 11-yard toss with 2:08 left in the quarter.

The Panthers hit the field at 7 p.m. Friday when they travel to Lindbergh for a Suburban West Conference showdown with Lindbergh. The Flyers (3-2, 3-2 Suburban West) are coming off a solid 29-22 win over Parkway South.

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