MALDEN -- The story of Malden football's season keeps writing the same chapter. Malden was once again on the doorstep as opportunity knocked, but it couldn't capitalize on its chances.
Turnovers and penalties haunted the Green Wave in their 42-34 loss to Kelly, the first SEMO East showdown of the season for both teams.
"I'm not going to make any excuses," Malden head coach Kevin Collier said. "We need to get more push on the D-line. We've got to present more problems to people with that. Right now, we're hit and miss there."
Down by a point after scoring two touchdowns in just over a minute of play, Malden (1-3, 0-1 SEMO East) took possession at its own 6-yard line with 5:32 left in the game after the defense forced a fumble. Two plays later, Kelly senior Jaycee Loomis picked off Malden senior Tye Miller at the 10.
Sophomore Evan Urhahn took the ensuing play 10 yards into the end zone to give Kelly control of the game.
Malden responded, though.
Miller and company took just four plays to go 67 yards and match the score. A big completion from Miller to Drew Blankinship for 64 yards set up a Miller run to pull the Green Wave within a point once more.
The Kelly (3-1, 1-1 SEMO East) rushing attack was just too much to handle on the night.
Urhahn needed just one play to match Miller's score with a 60-yard gallop to the end zone to keep Malden at an arm's length yet again. It was the longest run of the night for Urhahn, who tallied 189 yards on 26 carries.
"We're taking our reads. Some of us are just over running them or not getting there in time," Blankinship said. "If we get our reads right, we could stop them and we could get off the field."
The Green Wave had just over 3 minutes to drive the 84 yards, needing a touchdown and a 2-point conversion to knot up the score and force overtime.
A fourth-down completion from Miller to Blankinship went 25 yards to keep hope alive for Malden, but two plays later, the hosts had their hopes broken when Christian Williams intercepted Miller around Kelly's 25.
"These guys, they're on their own for the first time," Collier said. "And it becomes a, 'Oh, no, what else is going to happen?' Instead of buckling down. It creates a situation where you start fearing making a mistake more than making the next play.
"We've got to overcome that and have more confidence and play with that confidence."
The first quarter may have just been the difference in the game. Kelly had three touchdown drives in the first frame with just one first down and led 20-0 after the first 12 minutes. The Hawks totaled 36 yards combined on those three drives.
Two straight Malden punt attempts were hindered by snaps that sailed over Blankinship's head, both leading to touchdowns. The third was low and caused him to drop to a knee to field the ball, ending the play.
"Everybody needs to have drive ... if we had more drive, we could do great things," Blankinship said. "We need to come together as a team, add more effort, (and) don't give up."
Despite coming up just short, Miller put on another clinic with the ball in his hands. He posted 181 yards on 34 rushing attempts and three scores, and through the air he went 16-for-26 with 269 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Aside from Miller, the Green Wave ran for 30 yards. Miller has now reached 736 yards on the season and 10 rushing touchdowns to lead Malden.
"We knew that young man, (Miller), is a good football player," Kelly head coach Lance Powers said. "All we could do was try to contain him. We knew he was going to get his big plays in, and he did. We just tried to do our best to limit them as much as possible."
Blankinship put up solid numbers and was helped by his 64-yard catch and run. He finished with five receptions for 144 yards, a season-high for the Green Wave receiving unit.