Cobras open year with win

Avery Moore made his presence known against Pekin on Friday night.

In the annual Backyard Brawl rivalry game between Pekin and Sigourney-Keota, the Cobras unleashed Moore in all three phases of the game.

Moore scored a pair of rushing touchdowns, returned an interception 70 yards for a score, and returned a punt 70 yards for another touchdown.

Those scores helped the Cobras pull away to a decisive 42-20 victory, their second straight over the Panthers.

?Any time you get your first win in the first week, it?s huge,? Sigourney-Keota head coach Jared Jensen said. ?The mindset of the kids after all this work we?ve put in in the offseason makes it all worth it and the next week easier. We can get on them a little more because we won and especially after a rivalry game like that, it?s stacked up even higher.?

Moore finished the game with 77 rushing yards on seven carries, to go with one catch for 31 yards.

The Cobras were led in rushing by sophomore running back Carson Crawford, who scored a pair of touchdowns on the ground, while posting 110 yards on the night.

Early on in the game, Jensen said the teams drew to a near stalemate, until the Cobras found life in the second quarter.

?It was a solid fight the first quarter after a few mistakes from both teams,? Jensen said. ?Defensively, we both played well. In the second quarter, we got things rolling and made some plays and got excited.?

The second quarter saw the Cobras take a lead, but after halftime, fatigue started to set in.

?We were up 22-6 going into halftime and in the third quarter we started getting some cramps and had four starters come off to get stretched out,? Jensen said. ?Pekin did a good job of taking advantage of us when we got tired and they put a rally together to make it 22-20.?

All it took was a few big plays to get the energy going again.

?We found a way to weather it and get a big spark with a sack on third and long,? Jensen said. ?They punted it and Avery returned one for a touchdown. Our line had a huge surge on a third and short. It was like a rugby scrum getting us the first down. In the fourth quarter, we were playing really well.?

The Cobras were led defensively by Crawford and Ben Appleget, who each recorded 7.5 tackles, while Noah Boender had 6.5 tackles, including a sack.

Sigourney-Keota will look to improve to 2-0 next week when they face Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont at home.