Kent-Meridian’s quick-strike offense thrives on the pass but devastates teams with an occasional punch on the run.
Courtesy of Shamar Malik Woolery.
The Royals’ jitterbug of a running back – both powerful and quick – shined Friday night, scoring a personal-best four touchdowns in leading the Royals to a 41-36 victory over Auburn.
Woolery blasted up the middle against a young, tiring Trojans defense from 25 yards out with 57.3 seconds left in the game as the Royals pulled out a penalty-marred, nonleague victory at Auburn Memorial Stadium.
In doing so, the Royals (1-1) retained the Taylor Trophy for the second consecutive year. The series, the second oldest rivalry in the state, is now even at 50-50 with six ties.
K-M broke Auburn’s 15-year winning streak in the series with a 42-39 overtime win last year at French Field.
The Royals again found a way to survive another drama against their rivals.
Woolery, a 5-foot-8, 155-pound senior, overcame cramps, bumps and bruises to give the Royals’ spread offense some ground support. He also scored earlier from 6, 17 and 33 yards out, and finished with 90 yards on 13 carries.
A block-in-the-back penalty nullified Woolery’s 59-yard TD run in the second quarter.
Auburn (0-2) had taken a 36-35 lead on Caden Borden’s 23-yard field goal with 1:31 left on the clock before the Royals countered quickly, with quarterback Ben Woods directing the winning drive.
Woods found Woolery for one reception that covered 26 yards to Auburn’s 40-yard line. He then hit Emmanual Daigbe for 15 yards to the 25. On the next play, Woolery dashed up the middle to score the game-winning TD.
“I believe in Ben. We were never worried,” Woolery said of the comeback drive.
“These guys, right here? We’ve been working all summer,” he said of the Royals’ no-quit demeanor. “No matter what, we pull through. When we get tired, when we get hurt, we keep pushing through because that’s what we’ve been doing all summer in preparing for this.”
Woods found Daigbe on two long, scoring passing plays in the game. Daigbe also came up with the game-ending interception.
For Auburn, Malik Williams returned a kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown, ran for one score and caught another. Quarterback Justin Ioimo scored on a pair of keepers.
“We just ran out of time,” said Auburn coach Gordon Elliott. “(K-M’s) a very good team. It’s tough to outscore that kind of team because they have weapons. We got into that kind of match with them. Normally, that’s not our style of football. Our style is to keep the ball away from them and pound the ball and move the ball. We got into a situation where we had to outscore them. We almost got it done.”
More coverage to come from the game and from other action this weekend.
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