Tylyne Mathies leads Malden to first win in three years

MALDEN, Mo. - 36 months, 159 weeks and 1114 days.

This was the last time Malden fans saw their football team win a game, until this past Saturday.

The Green Wave squad won their first game in over three years against Veritas Christian Academy with a final score of 50-17.

Veritas Christian Academy traveled to Malden High School for a Saturday afternoon Class 1 District 1 football showdown.

Both teams were looking to improve their records and their District standings in the second-to-last week of the regular season. Malden entered the competition 0-7, searching for its first win in three years. Veritas Christian looked to snap their four game losing streak and extend their 1-5 record.

However, the Green Wave came out on top behind senior Tylyne Mathies’ five touchdowns.

“This really means a lot to me,” Mathies said. “It’s my last year of high school, and I haven’t played football in four years. I’m glad to be back on the field and we could pull out a dub.”

Mathies scored the opening touchdown of the game two minutes into play after Malden’s defense forced a fumble.

He scored his second touchdown a few moments later after Green Wave’s special teams forced a fumble on the punt return. Mathies scored on a 5 yard rushing touchdown to give Malden a 14-0 lead in the opening minutes of play.

Veritas Christian didn’t have a response until the end of the first quarter when they pulled the game back to a one-possession lead. Eagles senior Cal Jenkins scored the first touchdown for his team to make it a 14-7 ball game.

Despite his efforts to cut the lead, Mathies immediately responded with a 54-yard receiving touchdown thrown by freshman quarterback Kannon Brown. With 1:30 left in the first quarter, they pushed the lead to 22-7 after scoring the two point conversion.

Malden regained possession to open up the second quarter after freshman Logan Perkins picked off a pass and got an interception. This defensive play led to Mathies scoring his third touchdown of the day and extending the game to 30-7.

The Eagles would respond with a touchdown pass thrown to Veritas junior Judah Lumpa. He helps give the Eagles seven more points to make the score 30-14.

However, Mathies and Brown would help send Malden into the half with a 36-14 lead after scoring one more 15-yard touchdown pass. This would be Mathies fifth touchdown of the game.

Green Wave Sophomore Dyentez Dobbins would open up scoring in the second half with a pick 6 to make the score 42-14. He then went on to score the two point conversion and extended the lead to 30 points, 44-14.

Jenkins from Veritas, who also served as the team's Kicker, would drive in a 24-yard field goal and change the score to 44-17.

Yet, once again, Malden responded. They would have the final word as Zion Bell ran for a 20 yard rushing touchdown and gave Malden their first 50 point game in three years.

Malden finished this game with 312 total yards. This included 167 passing yards and 145 rushing yards.

Along with Mathies and his offensive efforts, freshman Damien Annesser led defensively with 5 tackles. Junior Tristin Moncrief and freshman Landon Deprow also had four tackles throughout the competition.

Perkins and Dobbins both led the team in interceptions, as they both had one. Meanwhile, Freshman David Stone and Mathies led the team in fumble recoveries. Each had one.

According to Mathies, there was a lot riding on this game. It was his first win ever in his high school career and it was a chance to prove all of the doubters wrong.

“Our coach pushes us hard every day,” Mathies said. “No matter what, he tells us to ‘WIN’ everyday. WIN at practice, WIN games and just WIN the day. He tells us you have to do everything right all the time, no matter what.”

For his head coach, Tresten Pulley, this was his first win after taking over the program this summer.

He came in with the knowledge this team was on a 30 game losing streak. He said his main goal was to make sure these kids, especially his seniors, knew how it feels to win.

“It's good to win,” Pulley said. “We’re proud of these kids, they worked hard all week. It was a long week of practice but they were determined to get one, and we finally got one.”

After a tough loss to New Madrid County Central last week and falling to an 0-7 record, Pulley and his team were ready for a change.

It was time for the Green Wave to change the tides of this season and the seasons prior.

“The big thing for us was re-writing history,”Pulley said. “We were on a 30 game losing streak, so our focus became ending that streak and re-creating our history here. Hopefully we can keep it rolling going into next week.”

With this win, Malden moves to 1-7 and will move up in their Class 1 District 1 standings.

Malden enters their final week of the regular season, where they will face off against Hayti on Friday, Oct. 25.