Purcell pitched a shutout last Friday night at Frederick pinning a 27-0 loss on the Bombers.

“The defense played really well,” head coach Aaron Dillard confirmed. “We got lined up (correctly) and made things tough on them.

“We got off the field,” Dillard continued. “Any time you pitch a shutout you feel pretty good about it.”

Dillard said Frederick did have two big plays offensively but other than that the Dragon defenders pretty well held them in check.

“They had one trick play, a halfback pass and had one 40-yard run when they got outside,” the coach said.

Dillard praised the play of both linebackers Ryker Fink and Christian Kirk. Both registered 15 tackles with two of Fink’s for losses. He also recovered a fumble.

Guthmueller finished right on their heels with 14 tackles from his free safety position.

“Our D-line did a good job all night,” Dillard said speaking of Jonathan Minor, Tavian Engert and Derek Cravens.

Minor led the group with nine tackles including a sack while Engert and Cravens both finished with seven stops.

“They played really, really well,” the coach said.

Boston Knowles had 11 tackles,” Dillard continued. “We had a lot of guys who did their jobs really well. Colt Taylor came around from the back side and saved a touchdown to preserve the shutout.”

Brody Holder, Engert and Minor all had quarterback sacks in the contest.

The Dragons turned a tight 7-0 lead at halftime into a 20-point second half breather.

Noah Mason hauled in a three yard pass off the arm of quarterback Kash Guthmueller for the lone score of the first half.

Offensive Coordinator Payton Broome and the staff made halftime adjustments that propelled the Dragons into a rushing machine in the final two periods.

Nathan Tekaat caught a 29-yard scoring pass from Guthmueller, who also scored twice with his legs one from nine yards out and one from the 11 yard line.

“Give credit to Frederick,” Dillard said. “They were making it very, very tough on us blitzing and  sending guys all over the place. We struggled to finish drives. We didn’t capitalize.

“I call it an ameba defense. It’s hard to identify with guys going everywhere. But it can be feast or famine. If you get a couple of guys sealed off you can hit some home runs.

“But give credit to coach Broome and the other coaches for making adjustments at halftime. After halftime we ran the ball really well with the adjustments.”

Boston Knowles led the Dragon rushers picking up 130 yards on 23 carries.

“He continues to carry the load for us,” Dillard said.

Guthmueller rushed the rock 16 times for 122 yards and two touchdowns and was 4-6 passing for 62 yards and two more touchdowns.

“Noah Mason’s touchdown catch was huge. We had a fourth and one and ran a boot. He made a great catch on the play reaching across his body.

“That got us going with some momentum,” the coach confirmed. “Nathan Tekaat played slot because we were banged up with Noel Chavez and Jett (Tyler). He stepped up and made some big time plays.”

Maybe the hero of the night was Christian Kirk filling in for Carter Goldston, who went down in the second quarter.

“It was still close and Christian came in and played exceptionally well filling in at the center spot,” Dillard confirmed.

Up next are the CCS Royals for the first of three Thursday night games in a row.

Kickoff this week at Conger Field has been moved back to 7:30 p.m.

CCS is 2-4, 2-1 on the season while Purcell is 5-1 and 3-0 heading into a key district matchup.

The Royals will be a spread offensive team showing a lot of doubles and trips.

“They like to throw is around. They like to spread you out and run when you vacate the box,
the coach said.

On defense the Royals will used an odd front, most of the time in an odd stack alignment.

The key for a Dragon victory?

“We’re got to run right at them,” Dillard said. “We need to be a lot more physical. They’ve got good athletes that can stretch the field. We want to control the tempo and pace of the game. We want to contain them. They’ve got a good running back and two good receivers.”

Dragon notes:

Head Coach Aaron Dillard nominated Christian Kirk as the Offensive Lineman of the Week. He graded out at 81 percent filling in for the injured Carter Goldston.

Dillard nominated Jonathan Minor as the Defensive Lineman of the Week. He had nine tackles including a sack last Friday night.

Ryker Fink got the nod as the Defensive Player of the Week for his 15 tackles including two for losses and recovered a fumble.

The nominee for Offensive Player of the Week is Kash Guthmueller who scored two rushing touchdowns and passed for two more.

He finished with 184 total yards running and throwing.