The McKenzie Tigers were looking to put on a show for the community and alumni who came to celebrate homecoming, and they did exactly that, topping Pleasant Home 49-0.

“I thought we came out and played a physical game,” said head coach Miles Brown. “We set the tempo early.”

In the first half, the Tigers showed their tremendous team speed early and often.

Running back Armond Ball missed last week’s game with the flu, but he didn’t show any signs of rust while breaking a 30-yard run to put McKenzie on the board less than five minutes into the game.

Emmanuel Johnson got in on the action with a strong punt return to the Pleasant Home 14-yard line, and Sir Wallace Presley connected with Calvin Henderson for a touchdown pass on the first play of the drive to make the score 13-0.

Before the half was over, McKenzie scored on a 55-yard run by Melvin Ball, a 54-yard run by Johnson, a 62-yard run by Ball and a 55-yard punt return by Johnson to make the score 43-0 at halftime.

Pleasant Home drove deep into McKenzie territory late in the fourth quarter, but the Tigers’ defense held strong with an interception.

Unfortunately, they set up shop on their own five-yard line to begin the next drive.

On the first play from scrimmage, Ball broke loose and raced 95 yards for a touchdown to make the score 49-0.

“Our defense did a very good job tonight on our third shutout of the year,” Brown said. “Our offensive line also did a good job of blocking, and our backs were able to get some solid carries.”

“We also got a little wide receiver action with good catches from Cliff Pugh and Calvin Henderson, and that’s something that we were trying to work on coming in,” he added.

“We still need to work on our special teams all around,” he said. “We’re allowing too many yards on kickoff.”