The Stevenson High School band gets high marks for its rendition of ”Nah Nah Hey Hey, Goodbye.” Timing, however, is another subject.
Zion-Benton hammered the host Patriots 43-0 Friday night behind a potent offense and tough defense, avenging a 13-0 loss last year. About the only thing Stevenson (1-6) had going for it was that song. Trouble was, the band played it after the Zee Bees (7-0) took a 21-0 lead with 22 seconds left in the first quarter.
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Their first score came 2:17 into the game when Tim Borop returned an interception of a D.J. McCullough pass 47 yards. They tallied again with 3:12 left in the period on quarterback Gary Scott`s 5-yard run and made it 21-0 on Don Farmer`s amazing 57-yard TD run. He fumbled on Scott`s handoff, picked up the bouncing ball like an infielder and ran it in.
The Zee Bees` first-half scoring ended with Chris Lindley`s 45-yard field goal 5:13 before halftime.
Scott`s 27-yard pass to Borop made it 31-0 with 4:51 left in the third quarter after Matt Rymer`s interception. In the final period, Lindley kicked a 27-yard field goal, Scott hit Farmer on a 10-yard TD pass, and Lindley booted a 32-yard field goal at the buzzer.
Despite his team`s unbeaten record, Zion-Benton coach LeRoy Cliff wasn`t very confident going into the game. Running back-linebacker Pete Smith is out for the season after undergoing knee surgery Tuesday, and wide receiver Ken Martin has a broken hand and is sidelined indefinitely.
”We thought the loss of those two players would hurt,” said Cliff. ”We could use Farmer in the backfield, like we did last week, to make up for Smith. Donald had a great week after Pete was hurt.”
Stevenson coach Bill Mitz felt that stopping Farmer would be the key for his Patriots.
”He has elusive quickness,” said Mitz. ”We didn`t want to let him break into our secondary. We stacked a little more and were concerned with the play of our tackles and linebackers.
”Farmer`s the kind of runner who looks like he`s going to be tackled-kids even get a hand on him-but, boop, he`s gone.”
Tailback Cliff King, who sprained his left ankle before the season opener and his right ankle during that game, returned for Stevenson. But star linebacker Chris Holder was out with a knee injury.
One big switch had 6-3, 205-pound defensive end Cleveland Tyson moving to linebacker.