CHARLESTON -- Charleston found itself in a fight with Malden for the first 24 minutes of game time. A pass from Malden senior quarterback Tye Miller was picked off in the end zone, allowing Charleston to preserve a 28-22 lead heading into the locker room.
"That was a big, big hold because my concern there was if they score there, they get the ball coming out in the second half there," Charleston head coach Brett Blackman said. "That's a big game changer. Our defense responded there. Our defense has done some great things the last two weeks in the red zone."
After the intermission, senior running back Q'Nairies Anderson and junior fullback James Durden ran wild, and the Bluejays rode a wave of momentum to outscore the Green Wave 30-16 in the second half on the way to a 58-38 win over its Class 2 District 1 foe.
In the second half alone, Anderson ran for 156 yards on 12 carries, bringing his game total to 27 rushes for 319 yards. Seven of his runs went for more than 20 yards as he found the edge almost at will at times with timely cuts and breakaway speed.
"Our kids played hard," Malden head coach Kevin Collier said. "We knew Anderson would get his, there was no question about it.
"We felt like we had a good game plan early on; we were cutting him off. He started cutting back and the backside guys are responsible for the cutback and we were getting picked up a little bit. It's just something we'll have to continue to work on."
Durden finished the game with five carries for 91 yards, all of which were punishing runs right down the throat of the defense for the 6-foot-1 inch, 215-pound back.
"On some plays, we ran blitz and they just got outside of us, and sometimes we were there, but we just didn't wrap up. That's what really hurt us," said Malden sophomore Drew Blankinship.
Malden (2-5, 1-2 SEMO East) put itself in position to keep the score close on countless occasions, but turnovers and mistakes prevented any sustained momentum for the Green Wave, who have now allowed 42 points or more in all five of their losses.
Near the end of the first quarter, receiver Chris Castillo caught a pass near the sideline, but as he was starting to go down the ball was ripped out of his hands for a turnover.
"We had a couple turnover situations that were crucial," Collier said. "Those are game changers. They flip the end of the field. There are several things involved there. In high school football the momentum thing is huge."
Early in the third quarter, a fumbled snap got away from Miller, and Charleston's Delontre Gillespie fell on it to give the Bluejays possession in Malden territory.
Just six plays later, Anderson broke off a 22-yard touchdown, one of his four scoring bursts on the night.
Even when turnovers weren't the result, bad snaps plagued the Green Wave on several occasions. After Miller found Castillo for a first down on the first play of the second half, Malden put itself in second-and-long when a snap sailed over Miller's head on the ensuing play. The Green Wave had to punt two plays later.
With under five minutes left in the third quarter, Malden faced a second-and-1 from the Charleston 30, but another snap sailed over Miller's head, setting up third-and-forever. Malden again had to punt.
While Malden struggled to sustain drives, Charleston (6-1, 2-0 SEMO East)) scored touchdowns on four of their six drives in the second half.
Malden took the fight to the Bluejays in the first half, though, as Brandon Heck capped off a heck of a drive with a 15-yard bee line for the end zone. Heck carried the ball three times for 42 yards on the five-play scoring drive to get Malden on the board late in the first quarter.
Heck finished the night with eight carries for 68 yards. Miller was his usual self on the ground, carrying the ball 30 times for 194 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
"I tell you right now, from just sitting here, I'm not too happy, to be honest with you," Blackman said of the way his defense contained Miller. "I thought we took some bad angles, we put our feet in concrete, and we've got to be better with that."
But Charleston had an answer each time, and Malden never led for a second straight week playing an opponent with one or fewer losses.