After Tuesday night’s 25-7 win at home over Armwood, the Durant Cougars are riding high on the football field with a 4-0 record.
The Cougars, who have now outscored their opponents by a 110-25 margin, got on the scoreboard as soon as their offense touched the ball. Shortly after the defense forced the Hawks (2-2) to punt, Morgan Brill uncorked a deep pass to Hannah Kitrell to take the 6-0 lead. Though the extra point attempt did not work out, Durant was able to take a 12-0 lead right away on its next possession when Maggie Lauber faked out the defense from under center and then broke off a big run along the visitors’ sideline into the end zone.
Armwood nearly made it a one-score game late in the first half. Alexis Swantek picked Armwood off with 10 seconds left in the half and the Hawks immediately responded with a pick of their own. But what would have been a Hawks pick six was nullified on a roughing the passer penalty. Lauber nearly scored on another long ball from Brill on an untimed down but was stopped short of the goal line.
The Hawks caught their first break at the end of the third quarter with their only touchdown of the game and converted the extra point attempt to pull within five points of the lead.
Durant, however, was able to get back in rhythm in the fourth quarter. A few big catches by Casey Lane amped the Cougars back up and Lauber took a pitch into the end zone to give the home team a 19-7 lead. After the defense forced an Armwood turnover on downs with less than five minutes left in the game, Emma Harnage put Durant in scoring position with a big catch and run into the Hawks’ red zone. Wendy Delgadillo boxed out a defender just over the goal line to catch a very short forward pass from Brill for the final touchdown of the game. Brooklyn Kash iced it shortly afterward with an interception on defense.
It was also a big night defensively for Ashanti Quiambao, who burned past the Hawks’ offensive line and brought her season sack total to six after entering the game with three total.
The Cougars’ offense is getting it done with a strong passing attack led by Brill, who now has six touchdown passes, 553 yards and no interceptions on the season, and a consistent ground game that can get over the goal line. Durant averages just over 192 passing yards per game against 67.8 rush yards per game, though the team has scored eight rushing touchdowns against seven passing.
Defensively, with help from all that pressure Quiambao creates up front, the Cougars have been consistent ball hawks. They average 3.5 interceptions per game and now that Swantek recorded her first pick of the season Tuesday, six different Cougars have recorded 14 total interceptions. Lauber and Kash each hold the lead with four.
Durant will look to keep its hot start going on the road at Sumner (3-2) tonight, facing a Stingrays team on a two-game win streak of its own following its 32-0 shutout at Spoto (1-2) on Tuesday night.