McIntosh scores three times as Linden drops Ellwood

SELMA — Linden (3-2, 2-1) established the ground game early and often Friday night en route to a 26-6 win over Class 1A, Region 4 foe Ellwood Christian.

“As far as the execution part of it, I felt like we executed like we needed to execute. There’s several things that we’ve got to try to clean up,” Linden coach Andro Williams said. “For the most part, we didn’t do a whole lot. We pretty much just blocked and tackled. And we’ve got to work on our tackling and we’ve got to work on our blocking.”

Linden took its first drive of the game 65 yards on nine plays, capping it with a 19-yard sprint from Xavier McIntosh for the 7-0 lead.

McIntosh found the end zone again with 9:05 to go before halftime when he plunged in from four yards out for the 13-0 lead.

The Patriots cashed in their next possession in similar fashion, going 55 yards in 12 plays as McIntosh scored from four yards out for his third touchdown of the opening half.

Linden scored its final points on the first snap of the third quarter when C.J. Robinson hit a streaking DeVonta Poole for a 69-yard touchdown strike to set it at 26-0.

Ellwood got on the board with 6:45 to play in the game when Rayford Mitchell scored on a 10-yard run set up by a blocked punt.

Linden amassed 306 rushing yards on 42 carries, accounting for the majority of its 402 yards of total offense. Ellwood countered with 98 yards of offense including 57 yards on 23 rushes. The Eagles got 43 of their 57 rushing yards on the second play of the game.

McIntosh led all rushers with 107 yards 15 carries to go along with his three touchdowns. Charles Blackmon gained 57 yards on nine carries. Henry Lee had 46 yards on seven totes. James Jones finished with 47 yards on five carries to go along with an interception on the defensive side of the ball. Justin Jenkins added 46 yards on three runs.

Graderius Brown led the Linden defense with eight total tackles.

“He’s one that’s got that switch that he sort of turns it on and turns it off. If we can get him going on a consistent basis, he can help us,” Williams said.

Linden faces A.L. Johnson in an intra-county Region 4 clash next week.