BENTON, Mo. -- Some extra work on special teams quickly ignited Malden's offense Friday night.
The Green Wave scored on their first five possessions for a second straight week, this time needing just 12 seconds to go ahead for good, as the defense and kicking units set the tone early in a 50-0 win against SEMO Conference East foe Kelly.
"If we can start out like that against anybody, I think we have a good chance in any game," junior linebacker Gavin Bristow said. "Since that loss to Caruthersville we've realized we need to getting going early, and from the get go we were fired up, ready to hit somebody."
Bristow didn't need to do much hitting to set the tone on the opening kickoff. Kelly picked up a few yards before Bristow met the Hawks' return man at the 30-yard line. Instead of taking his counterpart to the ground, Bristow ripped the ball from his grasp and returned it for a touchdown with 11 minutes, 48 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
"At first I was running to go and make the tackle and I noticed when he hit me it wasn't full contact," Bristow said. "I realized when I wrapped him up my hand was on the ball so I said, 'hey, I'm gunna take it from him.'"
The Green Wave (3-1, 1-0 East) took a lot more from the Hawks (2-2, 0-1) throughout the night. Running back Tray Stevenson ate up chunks of yardage every time he touched the ball, rushing for 195 yards and three touchdowns on 13 carries. Quarterback Mason Brown rushed for 99 yards on six carries and added a touchdown in the first half.
Brown also completed all three of his passes for 45 yards, including two to senior Broddric Annesser, who rushed for one score, returned a punt for another and had one called back.
"I was pleased we threw the ball ran the ball and made good decisions on special teams throughout the game," Malden coach Kevin Collier said. "Add that to the way our defense played and that might be the most complete game we've had all year."
When the offense wasn't breaking through the Kelly stacked defensive front, Malden's defense was terrorizing the Hawks. Junior quarterback Christian Worley completed just 1 of 10 passes for 12 yards and Kelly's run game produced a whopping -1 yards on 22 carries.
Kelly, coming off back-to-back wins to move over the .500 mark for the first time in program history, had one positive yard from scrimmage and one first down via a Malden penalty at halftime. The Hawks, who finished with three first downs and 11 total yards, were forced to punt eight times, turned the ball over on downs three times and only crossed the 50-yard line twice.
"It was real tough to get anything going, especially when they take the opening kickoff strip it out of our arms," Kelly coach Lance Powers said. "It was almost like they kicked the air out of us right then."
It took Malden five plays following a Kelly 3-and-out to go 73 yards for a touchdown. Annesser capped the drive with a 21-yard run to make it 16-0 before the Green Wave defense went back to work.
Bristow, Romero Slavings and Jackson Wilson each came up with tackles for loss to force a second Kelly punt with 6:44 left in the first.
Four minutes later, Brown found pay dirt with a 15-yard scamper to boost the lead to 24-0. Stevenson followed up another Kelly punt with a bulldozing 20-yard TD run for a 30-0 advantage at the end of the first quarter.
"Guys were just opening things up for me on the line. As a group, we're all starting to really trust each other," said Stevenson, who opened the second quarter with a 42-yard touchdown run.
After letting Kelly's first four punts go untouched, Annesser got one to bounce right to him midway through the second. The senior scooped it up at his own 49-yard line and scurried down the right sideline and past the pylon untouched to for a 44-0 lead.
"They were getting too many yards back on the bounces on all their other punts, so I just figured it was time to grab one and take it to the house," Annesser said. "I had a lot of green grass in front of me and knew it was going to be a touchdown."
Malden's two remaining drives in the first half ended in fumbles recovered by the Hawks, who were forced to punt both times.
Stevenson and the rest of Malden's starters stayed in the game for three plays to open the second half before Stevenson capped a 90-yard drive with a 30-yard score. The Green Wave's ground and pound workhorse is averaging 177 yards per game and 9.7 yards per carry this season.
"He had a good night and we blocked well for him," Collier said of Stevenson. "We're going to have to continue to do that because it's not going to get any easier on him down the line."