by Rusty Ellis
The Macon County Tigers moved their record to 7-1 and 4-1 in region play with their 35-0 win over Livingston Academy on Thursday night.
With Macon starting quarterback Luke Gammon out, Mr. Football finalist receiver Gabe Borders stepped into the role and recorded 189 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns to lead the Tigers. Brother Zach Borders recorded 85 rushing yards on 4 carries.
Gabe Borders got the scoring started on the Tigers’ first possession, as he went 25 yards to the end zone on a quarterback keeper to put Macon up 7-0.
The score stayed that way until early in the second quarter, as an LA punt was blocked and recovered by Ty Young for a touchdown to run the lead to 14-0. Zach Borders got in on the scoring with a 68-yard touchdown of his own with just under six minutes to go in the half, and Gabe Borders added another in the last minute to push the Tiger advantage to 28-0 at the break.
The final score came once again from Gabe Borders, as his 56-yard touchdown put the final margin at 35-0 for Macon’s fifth straight win.
“Going into tonight, I told people all week that if you didn’t already know the outcomes of games, you would’ve thought Livingston had won a lot more games,” said MCHS head coach Kyle Shoulders. “They’re in the game in the fourth quarter against Upperman, they had chances against Stone. That’s a team that’s much-improved and Coach (Matthan) Houser is doing a great job over there.”
While the offense and defense is what gets most of the headlines, Shoulders felt like it was the special teams that really put them over the top.
“Special teams is our game, and again tonight, we had a big play there,” Shoulders said. “We block a punt and scoop-and-score, and that’s our game. We tell our guys all the time that it’s an honor to play special teams for us, that’s the kind of pride we take in that part of the game. That’s how much priority we put on that.”
Macon’s done a good job of putting themselves in an advantageous position in the region by making through the toughest part of their schedule with just the lone loss to Upperman. While he scheduled it the way he did for a reason, Shoulders knows his team has been through the ringer with some of their games earlier in the season.
“Overally, our guys have been through the gauntlet the last couple of weeks,” Shoulders said. “I don’t know how our schedule isn’t one of the toughest in the state, just because of our non-region and how competitive this region is…I’m glad to get all those games behind us, we’ve got an off-week to get ourselves healthy and to get them some extra rest with the games they’ve been through.”
Macon County and Livingston Academy will both be off next week for their bye weeks.
Photos by Rusty Ellis and Michael Lindsay
