DONIPHAN -- While their defense put together its best four quarters of the season, the Doniphan Dons could find few answers on offense Friday night against the Kelly Hawks.
In an era when 50- and 60-point outbursts are a norm in high school football, the Hawks defeated the Dons 28-0 with neither team cracking the 200-yard mark in total offense.
The game matched Southeast Missouri's two newest football programs. Doniphan, playing its first varsity season, fell to 0-6.
Kelly, now in its fifth season, equalled a season-high for wins while improving to 4-2 with three regular season games to go.
"I'm very proud of the defense," said Dons head coach Jeremy Stout. "It was a different style of offense than what we've been used to seeing. Our kids did a great job with adjustments and we tackled a lot better."
Kelly earned half its points on two snaps of the ball.
Evan Ebert returned a punt 95 yards for a touchdown with 2:56 left in the first quarter to give the Hawks a 14-0 lead. Ebert scooped up the punt after the Dons coverage froze as the ball continued rolling inside the 10-yard line.
With 2:49 left in the third, quarterback Christian Worley connected with favorite target Landon Hahs on a 49-yard touchdown pass over the middle to finish out the scoring for the Hawks.
Doniphan appeared to have the drive stopped at midfield but a horse-collar penalty on fourth down kept the Hawks in possession.
The Worley to Hahs combination accounted for six catches for 90 of Kelly's 188 total yards. Sophomore tailback Evan Urhahn ran for 82 yards on 20 carries and scored on runs of 4 and 15 yards.
Kelly led 14-0 at the half and put the game away with two third-quarter touchdowns.
The Dons defense forced five punts, picked up 12 stops for no-gain or minus yardage, and forced a turnover. Kelly recovered an onside kick following the long scoring pass but Jordan White came away with an interception for the Dons.
"Our kids are playing faster and starting to pick up on the speed of the game," said Stout.
On offense, Doniphan drove as far as the Kelly 11-yard line in the second quarter for its best scoring chance.
Following Ebert's long punt return, the Dons took over at their own 36. Sophomore Trey Mills ran 17 yards to the Kelly 43.
Fullback Kyle Reynolds gained four on third-and-two at the 35 and a long penalty for sideline interference moved the Dons to the Hawks' 17.
But facing fourth-and-4 at the 11, the Dons lost four yards on a sweep.
Doniphan drove as far as the Kelly 25 in the fourth quarter but a low snap from the shotgun formation on fourth-and-7 saw the drive stopped on downs.
Mills ran for 42 yards on 13 carries to lead the Dons. Reynolds added 23 yards on six attempts. The Dons managed just 80 net yards rushing and completed one of six attempts passing for one net yard for its lowest output in six games.
Doniphan will continue its search for its first varsity win Friday night at home against Chaffee (1-5.) The junior varsity Dons are 2-2 on the season with wins over New Madrid Co. and Dexter.
The junior high Dons will finish their season Thursday against Kelly at home and enter the game with a 2-3 record.
"I'm proud of our players. Kelly has 15 seniors and last week Dexter had about the same number. It makes a world of difference," said Stout. "We are starting a lot of sophomores that are going to be with us for two more years. It's going to pay off (in the future.)"