Big plays a big story for Tribe this season

Staff photo by Mike Buhler Tevin Hampton (left) and the Kennett Indians have done well with the big play this season, having at least one play of 39 or more yards in six of their seven games this season. [Click to enlarge]

The big play has been good to the Kennett Indians this season â€" for the most part.

Starting with Cameron Conder’s 45-yard touchdown catch Opening Night that lifted the Tribe past Charleston, the Tribe has had at least one play of 39 yards or more in every other game besides a 28-12 win at Caruthersville week 2.

Some other examples:

^^ Demetrius Childress breaking a 58-yard TD run in the first quarter at Hayti, giving Kennett a brief 7-6 lead;

^^ Jarvis Finley’s 55-yard catch at East Prairie that set up a score and marked something of a “coming-out party” for the Indians’ passing game;

^^ Childress scoring on a 56-yard pass against Malden, then breaking a 60-yard touchdown gallop later in the game; and

^^ Finley’s 68-yard catch at Sikeston last week that set up another score.

“We talk about that quite a bit, especially before each ballgame,” Kennett coach Kirk Welch said. “New Madrid may jump out on us 7-0, 14-0 (this Friday), but we’re capable of scoring from anywhere on the field as well.

“We hope it doesn’t come (down) to big plays, but we still feel like in a lot of our ballgames, we’ve shown that we can line up, move the chains, have 13- or14-play drives and go on down and punch that thing in. We’re just hoping that we can continue to build on what we’ve accomplished so far.”

On the other side of the coin, the Tribe has occasionally struggled with the big play in 2007, as evidenced by a 72-yard scoring pass by Sikeston quarterback Chase Ferrell last week that briefly made it a four-point game in the third quarter.

With New Madrid having several speedy athletes, containing the big play on defense will be a priority.

“When you’re playing a caliber team like New Madrid, you know the big-play capability is there,” said Welch. “You just hope your kids â€" as a coaching staff, you hope you’ve just got them in the right position that they can make a play here or there or be an inch away or whatever to keep it from being a big play.”

Opponents: The Tribe’s opponents were 4-5 last week and are 25-43 this season. Here’s last week’s scores:

Charleston (1-6) lost to Fredericktown, 40-0
Caruthersville (0-7) lost to Dexter, 49-6
Hayti (7-0) def. Scott City, 43-7
East Prairie (1-6) def. Portageville, 33-26
Portageville (0-6) lost to East Prairie, 33-26
Malden (2-5) def. Chaffee, 14-8
Sikeston (2-5) lost to Kennett, 32-16
NMCC (5-1) was idle
Dexter (4-3) def. Caruthersville, 49-6
Perryville (3-4) lost to Herculaneum, 12-0

Weather: The National Weather Service is calling for mostly clear conditions with a kickoff temperature in the mid 60s, dropping into the lower 60s by the end of the game. Winds are expected to be from the southwest at 6-8 miles per hour.

Tailgating: The Kennett Indians Booster Club will be having a tailgate party at the south end of Metz Cherry Stadium at 6 p.m. Friday, prior to the game.