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Conner Crushes Dixie Heights
- Updated: September 17, 2016
HEBRON, ky – The Conner Cougars dismantled the Dixie Heights Colonels 40-8 Friday night at Fred Nevel Stadium.
Conner (3-1) took control of the game early and never let go, racking up 364 first half yards while only allowing 115 and the Cougars went into the halftime break ahead 26-0.
Senior running back and defensive lineman Armand Jackson led the way for Conner’s ground game with three touchdowns and 205 yards on just eight carries.
Jackson had a spectacular 75-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter where he broke at least four tackles and then put the game out of reach on the first play of the fourth quarter with an 84-yard touchdown run.
Jackson was one of many Cougars that played on offense and defense as he also had a sack, a fumble recovery, and a tackle for a loss.
“You’ve got to be able to play the game on both sides and make sure you stay in shape, stay in the weight room and keep working.” said Jackson
Conner wasn’t just a one man show however as it put up 616 yards on offense and 445 rushing yards with no one outside of senior quarterback Walker Buelow touching the ball more than eight times.
“Depth wise at the skill positions it’s the best we’ve had since I’ve been here, all of our guys are able to compete and that depth has enabled us to be pretty darn good.” said Conner head coach David Trosper.
Defensively the Cougars were sharp all night with the exception of one big play that kept them from recording their first shut out of the season.
Dixie (2-2) senior running back Jose Torres ripped off a 58-yard run in the fourth quarter which put the Colonels in the red zone and eventually led to a 7-yard touchdown run from senior running back Giante Hicks for Dixie’s lone score.
That 58-yard run was one-fourth of the entire offensive output for the Colonels who managed just 227 yards all night.
“The one play killed us but we practice to clean up our mistakes every day and try to dominate on every single play.” said linebacker Peyton Van Horn.
Van Horn was a dominate force for the Conner defense as he led his team with 10 tackles, two of which were behind the line of scrimmage, and he also added a sack.
Senior linebacker Austin Cain and junior defensive lineman Peyton Knippenberg were also key contributors for a Cougar defense that allowed a minuscule 2.5 yards per carry on 52 rushes excluding the 58-yard run by Torres.
In all three of Conner’s wins they’ve held the opponents to single digit points.
The Cougars do have a couple of things they need to work on including seven penalties for 123 yards and three fumbles Friday night.
“We turned the ball over more today than we have in our previous three games and we can’t do that, I talk about being great and doing the things we need to do to get to our goal of playing in the state championship and in order to do that you’ve got to not make mistakes.” said Trosper.
Next Friday Conner will play host to Newport Central Catholic, while Dixie will look to rebound at Boone County.
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