Munford rolls past Millington for seventh straight M & M Bowl victory

The 2022 Munford Cougars took the first step toward Highway 51 supremacy Aug. 18 by snapping the Covington Charger jinx 28-7.

Friday night’s annual M&M Bowl was the home debut, official first football game on the new turf and chance toward claiming another 51 rivalry game vs. the Millington Trojans.

The Cougars made sure the Munford Football Stadium home faithful left happy, the new field turf debuted with a victory and the Trojans were taken care of 38-0.

“It’s always good, the best thing about it is that I am happy for our fans,” Munford head coach Slade Calhoun said. “The Town of Munford, the community of Munford, our student section which is second to none and to all the people it means so much too is the main thing. When you see pictures of the fans after the game, just so excited and proud of the team, that’s what it is all about.”

The Cougars (2-0) took the opening possession against Millington down the field on a 52-yard drive. The first scoring play was a quarterback Jordan Bell to wideout Isaiah Cobbs 26-yard touchdown hookup. Munford added the two-point conversion to make the score 8-0 less than two minutes into the game.

After the Munford defense led by players like Josh Reeves stopped the Millington offense, the Cougar offense took back to the field for another scoring drive.

Braxton Sharp had the honors of rewarding the Munford efforts with a 3-yard TD run. Adding another two points, the Cougars were ahead 16-0 after one period.

The Trojans (1-1) were limited by the Munford defense by players like Joseph Noon, Hunter Perry and Reeves. Reeves had two sacks in the first 12 minutes of action.

Munford added to its advantage in the second period when a Bell to Cobbs connection set up another Sharp touchdown run. The senior running back scored on a 6-yard run. Another conversion made the tally 24-0.

Before halftime, Bell used his running skills to elude Trojan defenders and cross the goal line from 3-yard out. Braxton Brown finally got a chance to display his kicking touch and added the extra point for a 31-0 lead at the break.

In the second half, Reeves and the defense were determined to maintain the shutout. Reeves picked off a Millington pass and the defense limited the Trojan offense to minimal gains.

The only touchdown in the second half came courtesy of Munford running back Malik Curry. The junior scored on a 14-yard run with 8:38 remaining in the game.

“Every week it is a faceless opponent,” Calhoun explained. “Munford is playing against Munford. Can we play mistake-free football? We had mistakes tonight in the blocking.

“We had some busted runs through our defense,” he noted. “The kicking game wasn’t as clean as it could have been. We had some penalties we couldn’t have. We had some people jawing after plays. We had some substitution problems.”

Still undefeated, the Cougars will enjoy their two rivalry wins but keep things in a proper perspective.

“You have to be careful,” Calhoun concluded. “Sometimes winning is fool’s gold. It’s always good to win but you can’t break your own arm patting yourself on the back.”