Haynes historic night leads Owls

JEWITT- Zacarrius Haynes had an epic night leading the Anderson-Shiro Owls to a 41-20 demonstrative victory over the Leon Cougars.

Haynes record setting night on the ground consisted of 400 yards rushing on 19 carries (21 YPC) and six touchdowns. The senior running back also had a great game defensively with three pass breakups and four tackles.

“The story of the game was obviously Zacarrius Haynes who had a historic night,” said Owl head coach Bradley Hodges. “He got great play from his offensive linemen led by Ja’Colby Matthews, Zane Moriarty and Joseph Mancuso.”

Senior lineman Matthews had an offensive grade of 90% with 12 pancake blocks.

Defensively the Owls held Leon at bay playing solidly. The Owls limited the Cougars to 207 yards of offense, 140 through the air and 67 on the ground. Anderson-Shiro also intercepted two Leon passes.

Landon Stem led the defensive charge for the Owls racking up 13 tackles including two tackles for a loss.

Anderson-Shiro (2-0) hosts in county rival Iola (2-0) Friday, Sept. 13, at 7:30 p.m.

“This rivalry stuff this week is more for the fans and communities,” explained Hodges. “We have goals we set for the season and this week is just another step toward those goals regardless of who we are playing. We will prepare the exact same as we would any other opponent. Our focus is on us and what we do and need to improve on to get better. It is a great rivalry for the towns, and we look forward to playing in it for many years to come but as far as the week to week stuff we want to be as consistent as possible.”

Leon (0-2) will be on the road to face New Waverly (1-1) Friday at 7:30 p.m.