They had no answer. Much like the previous four opponents that had the misfortune of lining up to play No. 2 Bishop Neumann and its all-state running back, Conor Booth, the Malcolm defense failed to find a way to slow him down.
The Husker commit had his way in a 53-7 drubbing of the No. 5 Clippers on Oct. 4 in Malcolm.
Booth piled up 382 yards while tying a Class C2 record with eight touchdowns on runs of 67, 49, 13, 52, 13, 8, 4 and 39 yards.
“He’s a special player,” Malcolm Coach Scott Amen said. “He sees the field so well. He runs patient, waits for linebackers to over pursue and then he’s gone.
“It’s really hard to simulate the kind of speed and power he runs with. We took bad angles and found ourselves trying to arm tackle a man that doesn’t go down easily.”
While Booth was a one-man wrecking crew for the Cavaliers’ offense, he was off the field when his team was on defense. Bishop Neumann did just fine without him as the Clippers were held to a season low 154 total yards including just 24 on the ground. The Cavs had 488 yards of total offense.
“Our game plan was to limit possessions and run the clock,” Amen said. “In hindsight, we went away from that too soon. As fast as they were scoring, we were in a position of playing catch up sooner than we wanted to be.”
A 45-yard pass from Carson Frank to Logan McGreer early in the second quarter was the Clippers’ longest play from scrimmage. McGreer’s legs set up Malcolm’s only score with an 85-yard kick return that paved the way for Frank to find Tristen Boehle on a 12-yard touchdown strike late in the first half.
McGreer totaled up 132 yards on four kick returns while leading the team with six receptions for 91 yards.
Malcolm (4-2) takes a short trip north to face No. 5 Raymond Central (6-0) Friday night.
“Time to put Neumann behind us, move on and get ready for the next one,” Amen said. “We can’t dwell on that one. We need to refocus. If we win out, we’ll be in position to host a first round playoff game.
“Raymond Central will be tough. Tony (Kobza) is doing a nice job up there.”
Of note: Malcolm has added a junior varsity game at Milford to its schedule. The two JV teams will play Oct. 21 at 6 p.m.
