Arabia Mountain dominates Locust Grove behind first quarter explosion
Arabia Mountain High School’s Rams football team scored four first-quarter touchdowns enroute to a 41-16 win over the Locust Grove Wildcats on Sept. 21 at Godfrey Stadium.
Arabia Mountain (4-1) scored on its first two plays from scrimmage to open a quick 14-0 lead in the first two minutes of the game.
The first score followed the opening kickoff as quarterback Solomon Washington dropped back and threw down the right seam to Daniel Ndukwe. Ndukwe out-jumped a pair of defenders for the ball and raced the rest of the way into the end zone for a 77-yard touchdown. Mahin Masih hit the extra point for a 7-0 lead with 11:44 left in the first quarter.
Locust Grove (1-4) was forced to punt on its first possession, and the punt was partially blocked after a low snap. The Rams took over at the Wildcats 35.
On the first play of the following possession, Washinton threw down the middle to Alex Richard, and he hauled in the pass at the goal line for the 35-yard scoring play. Masih was good on the extra point to make it 14-0 with 10:00 minutes left on the first quarter clock.
Antonio Jordan intercepted a Washington pass, but two plays later Kenneth Hollinger picked off a Locust Grove pass and raced 85 yards for the pick six with 6:24 to play in the opening period.
On the first play following the kickoff, a Locust Grove running back was stripped of the football in a crowd of Ram defenders, and Ndukwe scooped it up and ran 31 yards for the fourth touchdown of the quarter for the Rams. Masih hit the extra point to make it 27-0 with 6:06 to play.
Locust Grove got the ball to start the second quarter on the Arabia 31-yard line. The Wildcats passed to the side to Maurice Sellers, who slipped away for a 16-yard gain. The Rams defense stiffened and forced a 32-yard field goal by Miguel Pascaru that cut the lead to 27-3 with 8:33 to play.
Jordan Miller upped the lead to 34-3 on the ensuing kickoff when he wound his way to a 60-yard touchdown return to make it 34-3.
Locust Grove got the football back with 1:33 to play in the first half and scored on a nine-yard touchdown pass from Julius Lowe. A two-point run failed, and Arabia Mountain was up 34-9 at the half.
It would be the fourth quarter before another score came about as Jonathan Adeh Adimah finished off a three-play drive with a 10-yard touchdown run. Masih hit the extra point to make it 41-9 with 9:30 to play.
Arabia Mountain’s 4-1 start is only the second time in school history it has reached the mark, the last time coming in 2016 when the Rams finished 9-3 and reached the second round of the state playoffs.
In other action on Sept. 21, Cross Keys (0-6) fell 34-0 to Harvester Christian (2-3) at Adams Stadium and Stone Mountain (0-5) dropped a 34-0 decision to Drew (2-3) at Hallford Stadium.
