Mitchell County opens season with win over Albany

ALBANY — Despite pitching a shutout in the first game of the year, Mitchell County football coach Larry Cornelius couldn’t be completely satisfied.

The Eagles opened the season with a bang by beating Albany 24-0 Friday night at Hugh Mills Stadium. But Cornelius feels they left some points out on the field.

“We just kind of fell apart offensively,” Cornelius said. “We had a chance to put it away and that does come with us playing a lot of youth. We just seemed out of sync.”

The Eagles (1-0) opened the scoring with a touchdown on their second drive of the game. The score came courtesy of Kobe Butler, who took a handoff, went left, made a man miss and scampered 33 yards before finding the end zone and making it 6-0.

The teams traded scoreless drives before Mitchell struck again, this time by way of the defense.

Malik Barnes jumped in front of an Andru Watts pass and secured it with one hand before going 68 yards for the touchdown. Barnes, a linebacker, put a juke on one man before taking it the remaining 25 yards for the score.

Mitchell once again broke off a big play for its third touchdown of the game. Quarterback Ken’Trevious Williams found James Thomas for a 51-yard touchdown. It was not Thomas’ only big play of the game.

Midway through the third, Williams found Thomas downfield for a 41-yard touchdown to make it 24-0.

Cornelius said it was great to see Thomas, who is just a freshman, step up big in his first varsity game.

“He is just unbelievable,” Cornelius said. “He has the makings of a Division I athlete and he is just a freshman. He has such a good burst.”

Williams showed an ability to make plays happen with his arm and legs. The quarterback scrambled for 31 yards to keep a scoring drive alive and also trucked a defender on the sideline during a run.

“He has to trust what has been given to him,” Cornelius said. “It was his first varsity start for us. He has to be on the same page as me. Like I said, that will take a couple of games to get going. He did a good job tonight though.”

A week after opening the season to some positive results despite a loss last week against Pelham, Albany (0-2) took a step back.

The Indians’ offense struggled throughout the game. They failed to make a red zone appearance until late in the fourth quarter when they recovered a fumble at their own 24-yard line. Albany made it inside the 5-yard line before time ran out in the game.

Watts was also picked off twice in the first half including one late in the second quarter.

Albany will play Westover next Friday at Hugh Mills Stadium. Mitchell hosts Stewart County.