COMMERCE — Senior tailback Bryson Sullivan rushed for 196 yards and scored four touchdowns to lead the Commerce Tigers to a 47-6 rout over the Ketchum Warriors Friday night in the District 2A-8 opener at Tiger Field.
A large homecoming crowd saw coach Willie Ng’s Tigers remain undefeated with a 4-0 record while coach Ryan Rogers Warriors are 0-4 on the year. The Tigers remain at home next Friday for a 7:30 p.m. matchup with Colcord.
“We had way too many penalties,” coach Ng said. “We’ve got to learn to handle adversity better and not retaliate. We need to show more class.”
During the first six minutes of the opening quarter, the Tigers put together a drive of 65 yards in six plays to grab the lead for good on their first series.
The brother combination of senior quarterback Kasey Ng and sophomore wide receiver Kyler Ng connected on a 34-yard touchdown pass to put the Tigers on the scoreboard. Tyler Maxville’s extra point sailed wide left with 6:23 left in the first quarter for a 6-0 lead.
“Another thing we learned about our team is that we can move the ball with consistency,” coach Ng said. “We’re don’t go into the game saying we’re going to run the ball 40 times and throw it 30.
“It’s an old coaching cliche, but, we take what the defense is giving us,” coach Ng said. “Now, we obviously have a game plan, but we want to make sure we can shift on the fly.”
After forcing Ketchum to punt on their next possession, Commerce marched 73 yards in five plays before Kasey Ng hit Maxville in stride for a 41-yard touchdown pass.
Blake Witten caught the two-point conversion pass with eight seconds on the clock as the Tigers carried a 14-0 lead into the second quarter.
“They were giving us space on the toss and some other plays,” coach Ng said. “They were really over-playing Bryson a bunch and by their alignment we were able to get outside and make some key blocks.”
Sullivan (6-2, 190) started his four touchdown parade on the next possession by the Tigers. Along with three carries totaling 26 yards by Sullivan, the Tigers reverted to a ‘trick play’ as quarterback Kasey Ng handed off to running back Austin McMinn. A lateral by McMinn to Kyler Ng resulted in a 30-yard pass to Kasey Ng down to the Ketchum 5-yard line.
Sullivan bulled over on the next play and Maxville added the point-after for a 21-0 Commerce lead with 6:37 until halftime.
Once again, the Commerce defense stifled the Warriors and forced a punt following an eight-play drive. “I was really proud of our defense,” coach Ng said. “They only gave up 60 total yards (54 rushing and 6 passing) in the first half.
“If we hadn’t turned the ball over on offense early in the third quarter, the defense would have pitched a shutout,” coach Ng said. “We got penetration on their quarterback and forced two picks and recovered a fumble.”
After the Warriors punt, Sullivan delighted the partisan crowd with a nifty 70-yard touchdown run with 1:24 remaining before intermission. The PAT by Maxville gave the Tigers a 28-0 margin at half.
Using a lot of substitutes in the second half, the Tigers appeared driving for another score early in the third quarter.
Junior running back Ricky Watkins was stuffed at the line of scrimmage on the Ketchum 15-yard line.
Before the whistle blew ending the play, Ketchum linebacker Cody Johnson stripped the ball from Watkins and dashed 15 yards for a touchdown with 8:09 left in the third quarter. Curtis Witt’s extra point failed as the Warriors trailed by a 28-6 score.
Sullivan unleashed a 55-yard touchdown run and caught a 5-yard TD pass from Kasey Ng over the next six minutes as the Tigers pulled away to a 40-6 cushion at the end of three quarters.
In the first four minutes of the fourth quarter, Watkins gained some redemption for the fumble by scoring on a 67-yard run to conclude a 72-yard, two-play drive. Maxville kicked the extra point with 8:04 left in the game.
Along with 225 total yards on the ground, the Tigers generated 150 yards via the pass. Sullivan’s 196 yards on the ground was supplemented by 72 yards on just three carries by Watkins.
Kasey Ng completed 6 of 9 passes for 120 yards and three TDs while Kyler Ng completed 1 of 1 passes for 30 yards.
Quarterback Stefan Kay accounted for 668 per cent of the Ketchum offense by rushing for 114 yards on 22 carries and completing 5 of 13 passes for 26 yards with one interception.
The game in figures
Ketchum 0 0 6 0 — 6
Commerce 14 14 12 7 — 47
First quarter
Commerce — Kyler Ng 34 pass from Kasey Ng (kick failed), 6:23
Commerce — Maxville 41 pass from Kasey Ng (Witten pass from Kasey Ng), 0:08
Second quarter
Commerce — Sullivan 5 run (Maxville kick), 6:37
Commerce — Sullivan 70 run (Maxville kick), 1:24
Third quarter
Ketchum — Johnson 15 fumble return (kick failed), 8:09
Commerce — Sullivan 55 run (kick failed), 7:23
Commerce— Sullivan 5 pass from Kasey Ng (kick failed), 2:16
Fourth quarter
Commerce — Watkins 67 run (Maxville kick), 8:04
Team statistics
Ket Comm
First downs 13 17
Rushes-yards 47-181 33-225
Passing yards 26 150
Return yards 65 27
Comp-att-int 5-15-2 6-10-1
Punts-avg 5-27.8 1-41
Fumbles-lost 4-1 3-2
Penalties-yards 10-95 9-100
Individual statistics
Rushing — Ketchum, Kay 22-114, Johnson 5-21, Swartz 2-19, Williams 4-10, Bogle 6-9, Brown 6-9, Inman 1-1, Long 1-(-2). Commerce, Sullivan 18-196, Watkins 3-72, McMain 4-22, Chance 3-20, Huffman 2-10, Kasey Ng 3-(-5).
Passing — Ketchum, Kay 5-13-1-26, Johnson 0-1-1-0, Inman 0-1-0-0. Commerce, Kasey Ng 6-9-1-120, Kyler Ng 1-1-0-30.
Receiving — Ketchum, Brown 4-30, Johnson 1-(-4). Commerce, Kyler Ng 2-57, Maxville 1-41, Kasey Ng 1-30, Arizpe 1-17, Sullivan 1-5.
