McGuffey suffers key conference loss
SOUTH PARK – To consider the South Park offense stagnant when it has played quality opponents might have even given it too much credit.
Until Friday night, the Eagles hadn’t scored a point against a team with a winning record and had been outscored in those games 136-0.
South Park needed a spark when it hosted McGuffey for Homecoming in the newly renovated Eagle Field Friday night.
That spark came from senior wide receiver Devin Turner, who torched the Highlanders’ defense with four receptions for 108 yards and three touchdowns as South Park defeated McGuffey, 39-14.
The loss drops McGuffey to fourth place in the Interstate Conference after entering Week 7 with a half-game lead over the Eagles. Only the top-two teams in each of the three Class 3A conferences are guaranteed a playoff berth with the other spots two spots decided by a wild-card process.
It didn’t take long after the opening kickoff for South Park to find Turner and any Highlanders’ momentum built from back-to-back wins were brought to a screeching halt.
One minute after taking a 7-6 lead on an Adam Townsend 14-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter, it went all downhill for McGuffey.
South Park quarterback Damon Smith found Turner from 17 yards for his second touchdown of the game. The Eagles then recovered a fumble on the first play of McGuffey’s next possession, then Isaiah Mack won a battle for the football across the middle of the field for a 14-yard touchdown reception that put South Park up 21-7.
“It certainly helps,” South Park head coach Marty Rieck said of Turner returning from an undisclosed injury.
“We’ve had many injuries and have had guys come and gone. We don’t like to talk about it or make an excuse. It’s really helped us offensively having Devin back.”
South Park (4-1, 4-3) took a 27-7 lead into halftime when Smith found Turner again for a 49-yard touchdown.
McGuffey coach Ed Dalton declined comment after the game.
With the Eagles’ stadium seeing its first week of action, the McGuffey locker room consisted of a set of band bleachers adjacent to the unpainted track.
“My hat is off to them for coming up here with a new stadium, a different pregame and less than ideal conditions,” Rieck said.
All hope for McGuffey (5-3, 4-2), which scored on a Christian Clutter eight-yard run with in the third quarter to trim the Eagles’ lead to 33-14, was erased when South Park defensive lineman Jake Isenberg intercepted Marshall Whipkey’s screen pass and returned it for a 46-yard touchdown.
Turner, who was injured for the past two seasons before coming back to play in South Park’s last two games, has nine catches for 328 yards and six touchdowns. Smith was 10 of 15 for 167 yards and four touchdowns and for 89 yards on eight carries and a score.
“Defensively, we put together a solid game plan for the veer,” Rieck said. “We capitalized on some different things and then our offense started to click. We have a plan that we believe in and the young guys are starting to build confidence in that, too.”
McGuffey was led by Clutter’s 143 yards rushing and one touchdown, while Townsend finished with 59 yards on the ground.