For Porter’s Chapel Academy and River Oaks, “Week Zero” referred to both the opening week of the season and the amount of defense they played on Friday night.

Lantavious Murphy accounted for seven touchdowns — three rushing, two passing and one each on defense and special teams — and River Oaks outran Porter’s Chapel 74-50 in the MAIS eight-man opener for both teams.

Sixteen of the game’s 22 offensive possessions ended with a touchdown. PCA committed four turnovers in the first half, two of which were returned for touchdowns and another where River Oaks scored on the next play.

“We talked about it all week long that we had to minimize our mistakes. We turned the ball over four times in the first half and lose by 24 points,” PCA coach Blake Purvis said. “We had 300 yards rushing in the first half. If we do that on offense every Friday night we’re going to win a lot of football games this year.”

PCA had been 62-0 in school history when it scored 40 points or more, but couldn’t keep up with River Oaks’ potent offense.

Murphy scored on a zig-zagging 64-yard run on the Mustangs’ first play, as he cut back across the field after being penned in near the sideline. He also had a 44-yard TD run on their third offensive snap, and the second snap was a 49-yard touchdown pass from Jayden Davis to Reggie Jackson.

In all, River Oaks scored touchdowns on its first five offensive plays, and had another two-play drive right before halftime that ended with Murphy’s 45-yard TD pass to Jackson.
River Oaks led 60-28 at halftime.

Jackson finished with three receptions — all touchdowns — for 145 yards. Murphy ran for 163 yards and three TDs on three carries, and was 3-for-3 passing for 102 yards and two TDs. He also returned an interception and a kickoff for scores.

“Speed killed us defensively. I don’t think it was a lot of missed tackles. I just think we couldn’t quite get there. They were just faster than us,” Purvis said. “I was proud of the effort. I thought in the second quarter we died in our effort a little bit, but I appreciated the way we rebounded in the second half and continued to play until the end.”

Although the result was disappointing for the Eagles, they had some positive takeaways — namely, they weren’t stopped on offense either.

Six ballcarriers combined for 381 rushing yards before several big losses on fumbled snaps were factored into the total. Jung led the way with 265 yards and four touchdowns on 21 carries, but Lakelan Pecanty and Auston Moore also found the end zone on runs of 39 and 37 yards, respectively.

“We’re a good football team. The fact that we can score that many points against a team that good, there’s potential here,” Jung said. “If we didn’t turn the ball over four times we would have probably been on top.”

Jung also grabbed a piece of history. He broke Earl Johnson’s 47-year-old school record for career rushing touchdowns, set between 1974 and 1976, with his 3-yard run in the first quarter.

Jung started the game tied with Johnson, with 39 career TDs, and finished with 43 and counting. Jung also caught a 6-yard touchdown pass from Chad Fuson and had an interception on defense.

“One of my friends told me over there that I broke a record and I was like, ‘What are you talking about?’ She said they announced it at halftime,” Jung said. “It felt good. Something good came out of it.”