It was not a picture-perfect opening win for the Guthrie Bluejays, but it sure was awfully close to one.
The Jays got three rushing scores from junior running back Isaiah Hammons and two receiving scores from junior Tyrin Eaton to secure a 33-0 road win over Shawnee to begin the 2021 campaign.
Guthrie’s offense was able to pile up 308 total yards, but the story of the night was the stingy Jays defense as Shawnee was held to 44 yards of offense on the entire night.
“I think tonight the biggest difference was our conditioning and toughness,” head coach Kelly Beeby said in his post-game radio interview.
Two of the offensive scores were setup by the Jays defense with interceptions coming from juniors Jackson Walters and Zach Henry. To go with the interceptions, senior Chris Shaputis caused havoc the entire night by getting into the backfield. Shaputis was named the North Church Guthrie Player of the Game.
“Chris really stood out to me,” Beeby said. “He was in the backfield and made some really big plays.”
With less than four minutes to play in the first quarter, Walters stepped in front of a Shawnee third down pass at the 40-yard line. As impressive as the pick was, the return was even better as Walters scampered down the Guthrie sideline for 35 yards by breaking multiple tackles as the sixth defender was finally able to drag him down.
Next, Hammons scored from 5-yards out for the first score of the night (7-0).
Guthrie’s next scored was setup with a pass and catch from sophomore quarterback Hayden Calvert to Eaton. The 28-yard connection saw Eaton go over two defenders to haul the catch in, while getting a foot inbounds down at the 3-yard line.
Hammons later would score from a yard out to give Guthrie a 14-0 advantage.
Five minutes later, Hammons was back in the endzone with another 1-yard run to push the score up 20-0 with a failed point after.
Just before the half, senior linebacker Spade Pool forced the Shawnee quarterback out of the pocket to throw an errant pass into the hands of Henry near midfield. Henry dashed down the Shawnee sideline and into the endzone, but a flag on the return brought the ball back to the Wolves 30-yard line.
Two plays later saw a well-design play call and even better execution.
Following a timeout, Calvert, with time to throw, perfectly found Eaton in stride for a 27-yard score as Eaton got pass the secondary with 67 seconds left before halftime.
The Jays secured the win midway through the third quarter with another Calvert to Eaton connection. This time from 8-yards out with 6:17 left in the quarter.
Guthrie opens up Jelsma Stadium next week when they host Putnam City West.
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