Mac has little trouble

MacArthur came into Thursday’s season opener enthusiastic and eager to showcase all phases of the game and the good thing was it took the Highlanders just one half to score in just about every way imaginable while rolling to a 60-6 victory over John Marshall at Cameron Stadium.

Mac’s defense put two pick-6 touchdowns on the board in the first half, that unit also recovered a JM fumble in the end zone for another score and the defense set up several other scores as the Bears were unable to get anything going against the aggressive Highlanders’ defense.

The Bears collected just a pair of first downs in the opening half and they had minus-56 rushing and three interceptions.

Marquis Harris set up Mac’s first score when he intercepted a bad JM pass the third play of the game. The Highlanders needed five plays to score with Dane Edwards hitting Boux DeLong on a 31-yard touchdown pass that was perfectly thrown.

Mac’s offense was unable to move on its second try but Auston Adam stepped in front of a JM receiver, made a nice interception and raced 27 yards to score.

Another defensive stop set the stage of Jeremy Hutcheson to get his first touchdown of the season on a 4-yard run and things were quickly deteriorating for the visitors.

Josh Rushing got the second pick-6 interception, breaking on a Bears’ pass and returning it 26 yards to paydirt with 4:07 left in the first half.

With the running clock in the second half, Mac had just two possessions and scored on both to arrange the final score.

“Our players had been very intense this week and I loved the way our defensive guys swarmed the football and made so many big plays,” Manning said. “I’m really proud of our defensive coaches and how they had those kids ready. Our outside linebackers did a good job keeping everything inside.”

The offense was able to totally dominate up front and that made just about every play work like it was drawn up.

“Our guys up front had to do a good job from how we were able to run the ball,” Manning said. “I thought Dane (QB Edwards) threw the ball well and our receivers made some good catches.”