Ackerman knocks down Houston, 42-7

Ackerman head football coach Adam Dillinger understands why the talk about his Indians usually centers around the offense. "We are fortunate to have a lot of offensive weapons and we have been putting up some big numbers," Dillinger said of his 4-0 Indians. But the number that really has him impressed is eight. That's the number of points the AHS first-team defense has given up over its first four games of the season. "I think the defense gets overlooked a little bit," he said. "Most of the points we have given up this year have come late in the game when we have the substitutes in." That was the case on Friday night as Ackerman rolled to a 42-7 win over Houston, with the Hilltoppers not getting on the board until after the starers were out of the game. "We play mostly juniors and seniors on both sides of the ball and have a lot of experience," he said. The Indians, ranked No. 2 in Class 2A by the Mississippi Prep Sports Source, scored the first three times it had the ball against Houston on the way to a 28-0 halftime lead. Ackerman shared the ball on offense, making sure each of its offensive stars got a chance to touch the ball. Senior quarterback Andrew Furr passed for 158 yards, while also rushing for four yards and scoring two touchdowns on just four carries. His first carry of the game put the winners up 7-0 on a 19-yard touchdown run with 6:18 left in the first quarter. AHS' second possession of the game ended with John Cummings, an elusive junior speedster, scoring on a 7-yard run, while Furr put the Indians up 21-0 on an 8-yard run with 8:56 left in the half. .Ackerman's last touchdown of the half came after a short punt gave the Indians the ball at the Houston 28-yard line. On the following play Furr hit Josh Brown with a nice touch pass deep in the left corner of the end zone with 59 seconds to play in the half to put the winners up 28-0. Tailback Shawn Stricklin stretched that to 35-0 just 12 seconds into the third quarter when he took the second half kickoff on the dead run, pulled of a couple shake-and-bake moves around midfield then broke it to the outside for a 78-yard touchdown return. Dillinger said if he has one real concern about his team, it is how it will respond when the Indians are challenged in the fourth quarter. "I can't say I'm unhappy that we've pretty much had control of our games by halftime, but you do wonder how we will do in a close game late," he said. "We really haven't had to play deep into a game yet. But these guys are experienced and they are winners. I don't think playing under pressure will be a problem for them." After Stricklin's second-half kickoff return for a touchdown, Ackerman added it's final score with 2:28 in the third on a 16-yard touchdown run by John Batts. Houston's touchdown came on a 22-yard run by reserve quarterback Brennan Pugh with 3:26 left in the game. Ackerman rushed for 203 yards on 31 carries, with the starters picking up 172 of those yards on just 20 attempts. Stricklin led the way with 45 yards on five carries while Cummings had three carries for 34 yards and also caught three passes for 72 yards. Pat Scribner led AHS with eight tackles, while Taylor Weaver and Patterson Bell had seven each. Next up for the Indians is a short trip to Winona to take on the Tigers on Friday night.