Turnovers, injuries haunt Cardinals in rout from Stockton

Turnovers and injuries led to a snowball effect of negative momentum Friday night in Stockton, as Miller turned the ball over on their first four possessions of the game leading to a 54-8 loss.

Miller owned the first possession of the game as sophomore Paul Nunez got his first start after Nate Hill suffered a broken ankle last week. Nunez and Caden Calvin led the rushing attack to the Stockton 12-yard line but a great jump from a Stockton defensive back led to an interception. Miller’s defense stepped up and forced a three-and-out and forced the Tigers to punt with 4:47 remaining in the opening quarter. Miller’s offense got a couple plays off until a snap exchange error coughed up the ball back to Stockton. The opening quarter ended scoreless.

Stockton QB Easton Hubbard opened the scoring about 30 seconds into the second quarter with a two-yard touchdown run to take a 7-0 lead. On the ensuing possession, Nunez coughed up the ball again on the snap, and gave possession back to the Tigers. After another impressive Stockton drive, Hubbard found the end zone on the ground to take a 14-0 lead.
Miller then fumbled the snap yet again on the first play of the drive and that resulted in another Stockton touchdown. The final two offensive drives of the quarter resulted in punts but were more costly as injuries began to pile up for a second straight week, including running back Caden Calvin and Paul Nunez. Both wouldn’t return to the game. Stockton found the end zone two more times in the second quarter and Miller trailed 26-0 going into the half.

Stockton’s offense started the third quarter with a bang, as running back Jack Rickman took the third play of the half 57 yards to the house. After a Miller punt, Rickman did it again, this time from 36 yards out and Miller’s deficit swelled to 40-0. After a three-and-out, Miller’s punt was returned for a Stockton touchdown but the Miller offense finally had their first positive output afterwards. Following a prolonged drive, led on the legs of Owen Dempster, third string QB Jarod Lung found sophomore Owen Weiss for a 14-yard touchdown on a beautiful slant route. The same connection would be found for the two-point conversion and Miller cut the lead to 47-8 after three quarters.

Stockton added on one last touchdown in the fourth quarter and the Tigers downed the Cardinals 54-8.

Coach Derek Hill was frustrated after the game, but really wanted to challenge his team's toughness.

“It's been the story of the program for the last three seasons,” Hill said. “After one mistake it snowballs into the next mistake because we are worried about the last one. Then someone gets banged up and it gets really contagious. It's easy to have a little bump or bruise and get pulled out and not fighting through adversity… As much as we thought we had an identity last week, we found out we have just that much more work to do and we will find 11 guys who will do that but we haven't yet.”

The Cardinals move to 1-1 for the season and will go on another road trip this Friday as they travel 2 1/2 hours to take on the 0-2 Cuba Wildcats, following losses to Owensville and Jefferson (Festus).