Waite, Johnson spearheads Defense, as Falcon’s wears down St. Johns
With tears streaming down his face, fans, friends, and fellow co-workers alike surrounded an emotional Coach Hill who hugged his wife, kids, and love ones in celebration of the big win.
An estimated crowd of 8,500 watched Kinkaid defeat archrival St. Johns 28-7 to take home its second consecutive SPC Championship Title Friday night at Rice Stadium.
The victory closed out an undefeated campaign for the Falcons and also marked the 26th time they’ve came away with the title in school history.
Kinkaid’s Coach Hill mentioned, “Anytime you can go undefeated, it’s a special year. We talked about it all year; we wanted to win the SPC Championship again. I didn’t know it was going to be in this fashion. Our kids came and worked hard in the summer and spent time in the weight room and it paid off. We have a great group of guys, I couldn’t be more proud.”
The highlight of the evening came as time ticked down to the final seconds. Falcon fans waited impatiently at the guard rail just before the field and once the clock struck zero, they stormed the field in celebration.
Kinkaid’s defense was full tilt after St. John’s lone touchdown, which was setup after Ford Childress, Falcon’s quarterback was picked off by linebacker Douglas Berkman at the Falcon’s 33.
The Falcons (10-0, 5-0) settled into their offense after David Kreston returned a kick inside Maverick’s territory at the 48. Though Kinkaid moved down to the 23 yard line on the rushing of running back Sam Eeggleston and Macan Wilson, it was held under its season average of 54 points per game. Childress 22-yard strike to Wilson down at the one setup the first touchdown, when Childress accounted for a one yard TD run. After Benjamin Thomas’s PAT, that left the score tied at seven.
We’ve been scheming all week. Our guys got opened and we ran the ball really well. Our defense really stepped up. Holding this team to seven points is amazing, I think”, said Kinkaid’s Quarterback Ford Childress.
A team inflicted mistake helped halt St. John’s next drive. While starting from its own 44 and moving down to the Kinkaid’s 35. Maverick’s quarterback Chris Gow optioned a pitch to his right, but no one was there to receive the ball, as it was recovered by the Mavericks after a nine yard loss. From there it was all downhill for St. Johns.
On the next series, Kinkaid marched 73 yards in 11 plays as Eggleston took the direct snap and slash through the defense from two yards out for a touchdown to put the Falcon’s up 13-7 after Thomas’s fail extra point kick.
A disastrous night hung over the heads of St. Johns (8-3, 5-1) as its next two drives were brought to an abrupt halt by a defense headlined by defensive lineman Henry Waite, sophomore line backer John David Johnson, Wells Johnson, Andrew Campbell and defensive back David Kreston who all help shut down the Mavericks offense.
Kinkaid’s defense entered the second half with more of the same intensity as was the first half. Waite and Johnson were responsible for stopping St. John’s first two drives of the second half. Facing third and 19, Waite got in the passing lanes to knock down a pass and helped force a punt. Meanwhile on the following series, Johnson and Waite combine to stop the Mavericks as Waite wrestled Gow to the ground for no gain and on third and ten from the 28, Johnson knife through the line and dropped Cow for a five yard loss at the 22, to force a second straight punt.
“Our defense is phenomenal; no one’s give us any credit for our defense. We held them to seven points; they had 50 yards rushing in the first half”, said Coach Hill.
Later, Kinkaid added two more TDs, the first with 1:15 to go in the third quarter on a 6-yard touchdown pass from Childress to James Britt and Wilson finished the scoring with a 9-yard burst up the middle to pay dirt midways through the fourth quarter.
“We came out here expecting to win. We got it done and it’s a great feeling”, said Macan Wilson Kinkaid’s running back/receiver.
