INDEPENDENCE, Kan. - The Independence Football team picked up their first conference win of the season behind a shutout from their defense, 26-0 over Highland on Saturday afternoon.
The Pirates (3-2, 1-1) returned home for the first time since their season opener back on August 23rd, looking to bounce back from a heartbreaking OT loss their last time out.
It was the Pirate defense that got the Pirates on the scoreboard first as after a three and out, an errant snap on the punt resulted in a safety to give the Pirates an early 2-0 lead.
On a day where the Pirates rotated their two quarterbacks, it was former KJCCC Player of the Week back in week one, Keegan Anderson, who led the first Pirate scoring drive connecting on a big play to Mekhi Penix, and a play later finding Ejani Shakir for the nine yard touchdown.
The two teams traded empty possessions on their next few trips, as the Pirate defense was stout throughout the afternoon. Midway through the second quarter, the Pirates added onto their lead with a 30 yard field goal by Colton Brunke-Brown to push their lead to 12-0.
The Pirate defense came up with their first big time play on the next Highland drive as Kamari Williams intercepted a pass as the Scotties were threatening inside Pirate territory. The interception was WIlliams first on the year.
After back to back empty possessions from each team, the Pirates had the ball with just over a minute in the half and deep in their own territory. Playing it fairly conservative, trying to avoid a costly turnover on their end of the field, Nathan Neal found Ejani Shakir on a quick route over the middle. Shakir turned what looked like a modest gain into his second touchdown of the day, as a broken tackle later the sophomore was streaking down the sideline, for an 87 yard score to push the lead to 19 right before the half. After two more scores today, Shakir has pushed his season total to five, good for the team lead and this was his second multi-score game.
The second half was continued dominance for the Independence defense as they had to make some big stops after back to back Independence turnovers on their first two drives of the half.
The Pirates forced their second turnover of the game as Nasir Hudson got home and sacked the quarterback leading to a fumble recovery by Kaleb Cain.
The Indy offense found the endzone one final time early in the fourth as Anderson found Anthony Colon from nine yards out, his second touchdown pass of the day.
The Pirates notched their third and final turnover late in the fourth quarter when Jesse Hardyway came down with his first interception of the year, to close out the 26-0 victory.. The Pirates pushed their season total to 11 interceptions, good for tops in the KJCCC.
Offensively, Anderson led the way with 235 yards and the two touchdowns. Shakir had four receptions for 143 yards and two scores, while Ivan Johnson led the way on the ground with 28 yards on just four carries.
Defensively, Kaleb Cain had a big day with eight tackles, two for loss, 1.5 sacks and a fumble recovery. Nasir Hudson and Ajahvea Robinson each had three tackles for loss, while Thaddius Parson led the way with two sacks.
The win moves the Pirates to 3-2 on the year and 1-1 in KJCCC play. Indy now shifts their focus to a crucial road game next Saturday as they head to Garden City to take on the nationally ranked Broncbusters at 1:00 pm.