Culver Military wins Academy battle

CULVER - After allowing two second-quarter touchdowns, Culver Military Academy head football coach Andy Dorrel extended a halftime challenge to his charges: Shut down Western Reserve Academy.

The Eagles certainly rose to the occasion.

CMA's miserly defense permitted just 33 yards of total second-half offense - 26 of those on one pass play - and just a single post-halftime first down.

The Class 3A, No. 4 Eagles combined the solid defensive effort with senior wingback Neven Fingerhut's three first-half rushing touchdowns in a 35-14 Parents Weekend win over Western Reserve (Ohio) Saturday at Oliver Field.

The undefeated Eagles stand at 7-0 for the first time since 1958.

“Our defense played very well in the second half,” Dorrel noted. “(Western Reserve) has a couple of really good individual players in (Tim Dempsey) and (Andre Gary). We also knew their quarterback threw a nice ball. They're tough to defend.”

The Eagles, who crossed the goal line in each of their first four possessions, rolled up 320 rushing yards on 50 carries. Fingerhut ground out 171 yards and broke loose for a trio of those touchdowns with jaunts of 17, 22 and 36 yards.

Quarterback David McIntyre tossed a pair of points-producing passes - a 9-yard strike to Andy Parchman to put the Eagles up 14-0 in the first quarter, and a 20-yard completion to Lavarr Barnett with 6:26 left in the fourth frame to seal the 35-14 CMA victory.

Running back Dee Warr also racked up 92 yards on the ground. Warr, riding a Fingerhut block, set up Parchman's touchdown reception with a 15-yard run.

“I was really pleased with Neven's blocking today,” Dorrel beamed. “I'm really pleased with the downfield blocking of all of our running backs. Dee, Andy and Neven all blocked for each other. They're very unselfish players. It's nice when your backs block for each other.”

For the Pioneers, quarterback Steve Mello hooked up with the lightning-quick Gary for scores of 70 and 5 yards.

Mello threw the 70-yarder deep down the left sideline into double coverage where Gary swiped the ball off Parchman's back and slipped away for a 21-6 game with 6:52 left in the first half.

Fingerhut, sprung by a late block by Aaron Schmit, answered immediately with his 36-yard sprint off an option pitch outside to the right. Kyler Scott tacked on one of his five extra points to give the Eagles a 28-6 lead with 5:44 left in the second quarter.

CMA 35, WRA 14
At Culver
Score by quarters
WRA    0    12    2    0 - 14
CMA  14    14    0    7 - 35
Scoring summary
C - Neven Fingerhut 17 run (Kyler Scott kick)
C - Andy Parchman 9 pass from David McIntyre (Scott kick)
C - Fingerhut 22 run (Scott kick)
W - Andre Gary 70 pass from Steve Mello (kick failed)
C - Fingerhut 36 run (Scott kick)
W - Gary 5 pass from Mello (run failed)
W - Safety
C - Lavarr Barnett 20 pass from McIntyre (Scott kick)
WRA Stats
Rushing: 19 carries for 32 yards (Tom Dempsey 6-26, Cart Hall 7-15, Brett Schuering 1-9, Steve Mello 5-(minus)18.
Passing: Steve Mello 10-23 for 142 yards
Receiving: Andre Gary 3-101
CMA Stats
Rushing: 50 carries for 322 yards (Neven Fingerhut 21-171, Dee Warr 13-92, Andy Parchman 10-32, Barrick Bollman 2-29, David Conley 1-8, Adam Pickrell 1-(minus)2, David McIntyre 2-(minus)8.
Passing: David McIntyre 4-8 for 47 yards.
Receiving: Lavarr Barnett 1-20, Adam Pickrell 1-15, Andy Parchman 1-9, Neven Fingerhut 1-3.
Records: WRA 1-4, CMA 7-0.