Staff photo by Mike Buhler Kennett's Tevin Hampton (right) tries to elude Malden's Raymond Wilson during the first half of Friday's high school football game at Malden. Hampton ran for 102 yards and two touchdowns as the Tribe won 27-16. [Click to enlarge]

So why wasn't coach Kirk Welch happy after Friday's win?

"It was a horrible night ..." Welch said. "You've got to take your hat off to Malden. They came out with a great game plan. They executed and gave us some looks we hadn't seen. From the coaching staff on down, we've got to do a better job of adjusting, getting us in the right direction and taking care of business."

Staff photo by Mike Buhler Kennett's Drake Daniels (left) wraps up Malden's Ryan Cain during the first half of Friday night's high school football game at Malden. [Click to enlarge]

There were quite a few reasons for the Tribe to be unhappy on Friday night.

1) Kennett gave up two kick returns for touchdowns, one after a safety punt and the other on a kickoff return.

Andy Matthews broke a 60-yard run on a first-quarter punt return that put the Green Wave (1-5) up 9-0, then broke an 86-yard kickoff return to pull Malden within 11 points midway through the fourth quarter.

Staff photo by Mike Buhler Actor Hill Harper of CSI: NY fame speaks to the crowd at halftime of Friday's Kennett-Malden football game at MHS Stadium. Harper was at the game encouraging people to register to vote and was also in Kennett earlier in the day. [Click to enlarge]

"We've done a poor job all year on kickoffs," said Welch. "We've got to do some revamping there. He's a good athlete. (Andy) was an all-conference guy last year. He's just a good athlete."

2) Kennett's passing game, which has been nearly unstoppable all year, struggled Friday night. Battling a sore shoulder, quarterback Blake Parr threw for a season-low 119 yards on nine-for-29 passing, with one touchdown and one interception.

"Hopefully that's one of his off nights and we've got that out of the way," Welch said.

3) After racking up an average of over 400 yards of offense in their previous three games, the Indians managed just 278 yards of offense on the night and punted five times after punting just twice the previous three weeks.

Kennett struggled almost from the outset.

The Green Wave got on the board first when Josh Louis tackled Tevin Hampton in the end zone for a safety with 6:27 left in the opening quarter.

On the ensuing safety punt, Matthews took the kick at his own 40 and took it all the way back to make it 9-0.

However, the Tribe did not give up, driving 68 yards in under two minutes and closing the gap to 9-7 on Hampton's seven-yard run with 4:28 left.

The big play on the drive came on third-and-10 from the 34, when Parr threw a 51-yard bomb to Cameron Conder to get Kennett inside the red zone.

The Indians finally took the lead with 1:41 left in the first half, when Parr hit Jarvis Finley on an 11-yard strike to put the Tribe ahead 14-9.

Kennett pushed the lead to 20-9 in the third quarter when Parr's one-yard sneak with 4:10 to go capped a 12-play, 76-yard drive, and the Tribe extended its lead to 27-9 midway through the fourth quarter when Hampton ran it in from five yards out, seven plays after Donald Sims intercepted a pass and returned it into Malden territory.

However, Matthews returned the ensuing kickoff 86 yards to paydirt to make it close, but the Green Wave came no closer the rest of the night.

Hampton led all rushers with 102 yards on 22 carries, while Parr ran for 57 yards on 15 totes.

Cameron Wallace had three catches for 25 yards, while Finley added 22 yards on two catches. Raphael Jones had 56 yards on four receptions for Malden.

Still, despite all of its problems against the Green Wave, Kennett is 6-0 for the first time in 22 years.

"We've talked about that but at the same time, you've got to do a better job, go out and perform," Welch said. "But at the same time, Malden had a great game plan and did a good job against us."

Kennett hosts Sikeston next Friday night at 7 p.m.

Notes: Actor Hill Harper, best known for his role as Sheldon Hawkes on CSI: NY, was in attendance at the game Friday. Harper was there to encourage voter registration and was in Kennett earlier in the day. … Sikeston is 3-3 after a 40-29 loss to New Madrid County Central on Friday night. … Finley has 726 yards receiving and 10 touchdowns on 35 catches after Friday's contest. … Parr has thrown for 1,650 yards, 17 TDs and eight interceptions this season while completing 58.3 percent of his passes.