Independence new head coach Scott Blade made his debut in Clarksville on Friday night as the Eagles soared over Kenwood High School, 28-6.
Led by wide receiver Vic Wharton III, Independence’s offense had very little trouble slicing through the Knights.
The University of Tennessee commit put the team on his back, picking up two touchdowns through the air and one on the ground, racking up nine receptions for 74 yards in the process.
“Vic Wharton means everything to this team,” Blade said. “Obviously, Vic got off to a huge start tonight and we’re real excited for him there, but we expect that from him. So, we were happy to see him come through and do a great job for us tonight.”
With the first possession of the game, Kenwood showed it wasn’t a pushover, eating up almost seven minutes worth of clock while driving the ball down to Indy’s 15 yard-line. But an interception by Missouri commit Finis Stribling IV in the end zone sent the Eagles’ offense to the field for their first drive of the season.
Like a warm knife through butter, Independence first-time starting quarterback Caleb Hollis carved up the Knights defense on the opening drive, completing six of seven passes for 75 yards.
Facing fourth down two different times in the drive, Wharton became the go-to man, catching a 20-yard pass on fourth-and-12 and later running the ball in for a touchdown on a fourth-and-goal from Kenwood’s 1-yard line. The score put Independence up 7-0 with 11:51 left in the second quarter.
In the ensuing drive, the Knight’s offense chewed up 6-1/2 more minutes before turning the ball over on downs at the Independence 12-yard line.
Having a little less than five minutes left in the half, the combination of Hollis and Wharton couldn’t be stopped as they connected for 47 yards on three passes. This included a 21-yard touchdown to put Indy up 14-0 heading into the half.
In the final 2-1/2 minutes of the third quarter, Kenwood’s offense finally showed some life. On third down and 23 yards to go, Knights quarterback Malcolm Perry scampered his way for a 67-yard touchdown run. This would be their only score of the night.
As the pressure started to build, Hollis would take the tension away, scoring a rushing touchdown of his own from 4 yards out to give the Eagles a 21-6 lead.
Even though the 15-point edge was good, it wasn’t enough as Hollis refused to be satisfied.
Following sophomore Adam Swayze’s interception, Indy’s offense took the field one last time with three minutes left in the match. Just like the game began, it finished with yet another Wharton touchdown. This time, it was in the form of a 34-yard pass from Hollis for the final score of 28-6.
Hollis finished the game with 177 passing yards and two touchdowns. He was also the team’s leading rusher with 34 yards on the ground and one TD.
For Independence, this win is only the beginning to what they think will be a special season.
“We have a lot of improvement to do, but I think we can go far this year,” Wharton said. “We have a tough schedule this year, we only have two returning starters and most of our team is sophomores. However, they got those first-game jitters out tonight, so hopefully we can come back out next week and show everyone what we can do.”
While the scoreboard says Independence played very well, Blade said he believes the team still has a lot to work on.
“We have to get better at tackling,” he said. “We have to get better at a lot of things. I truly believe the most improvement through the whole season comes between the first and the second game. The team now knows what to expect. We took our lumps and we will get better from it.”
Next week, the Eagles’ will host Marshall County, coming off a 34-21 loss to Shelbyville. Kickoff is 7 p.m. for Independence’s first home game of the year.
