By William / www.mcpherson-county-ks.com

DERBY – Last Thursday the McPherson Middle School 8th grade football team traveled south to battle with Derby Middle School and came home with a dominating 44-6 victory.

Kaizer Kanitz had an outstanding game as he completed 8-of-15 passes for 165 yards and three touchdowns. On the scoring end of those passes were two long pass plays to Aaron Winter that covered 18 and 55 yards while Kanitz connected with Jett Pyle for the third touchdown from 22 yards.

Kanitz also ran the ball four times for 61 yards, giving him a total of 226 yards of offense for the game. Both Julian Glover and Cooper Reeves ran for over 30 yards with Glover getting 31 on four carries and Reeves gaining 30 on five totes.

Keaton Crane scored one of the other Junior Pup touchdowns on a five yard run while Pyle returned a kickoff 80 yards for the teams sixth score of the day.

“As a coaching staff, we were very proud of our team and the way they stepped up this game after losing one of their leaders on the line before the game started,” noted 8th grade Junior Pup head coach Brandt Busse as he reflected on the game. “The offensive line did a fantastic job to help lead the team to just over 300 yards of total offense. We will look to continue to progress when we take on Salina South.”

The Junior Pup defense was led by Trevor Pontius who recorded six tackles while both Aaron Winter and Jett Pyle had an interceptions and Cooper Reeves recovered a fumble.

Salina South will be the 8th grade Junior Pups next opponent which will be at home on Thursday.

MCPHERSON 8TH GRADE JUNIOR PUPS vs. Derby:

JUNIOR PUPS 44 Derby 6

SCORING:

JUNIOR PUPS = Keaton Crane on a 5-yard run.

JUNIOR PUPS = Aaron Winter on an 18-yard pass from Kaizer Kanitz (Cooper Reeves runs for 2-Point Conversion).

JUNIOR PUPS = Aaron Winter on a 55-yard pass from Kaizer Kanitz.

JUNIOR PUPS = Cooper Reeves on a 3-yard run (Cooper Reeves runs for 2-Point Conversion).

JUNIOR PUPS = Jett Pyle on a 22-yard pass from Kaizer Kanitz (Keaton Crane runs for 2-Point Conversion).

JUNIOR PUPS = Jett Pyle on an 80-yard kickoff return (Julian Glover runs for 2-Point Conversion).

JUNIOR PUP INDIVIDUAL STATS:

Rushing: Kaizer Kanitz 4 for 61 yards; Julian Glover 4 for 31 yards; Cooper Reeves 5 for 30 yards, 1 td; Aiden Smith 1 for 12 yrds; Keaton Crane 1 for 5 yards, 1 td. (Team total = 15 for 139 yards, 1 tds.)

Passing: Kaizer Kanitz 8-of-15 for 165 yards, 3tds

Receiving: Aaron Winter 3 for 95 yards, 2 tds; Jett Pyle 2 for 40 yards, 1 td; Cade Strathman 2 for 20 yards; Keaton Crane 1 for 10 yards

Yardage Leaders: Kaizer Kanitz totaled 226 yards with 3 tds; Jett Pyle totaled 162 yards with 2 tds

Defensive Leaders: Trevor Pontius recorded 6 tackles; Aaron Winter had 1 interception; Jett Pyle had 1 interception; Cooper Reeves recovered a fumble

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