After their tough loss last week to Stebbins, the Tecumseh football team wanted to make a statement this week as they hosted Shawnee in a CBC contest.

Point taken.

After jumping out to a two-touchdown lead at the half, the Arrows dominated the second half en route to a 42-14 win over the Braves, evening their record at 4-4 on the season, and earning their first league win of the season.

“We talked last week that we played hard and well,” Tecumseh coach Chris Cory. “The difference is we had better execution and very few penalties, plus we caused four turnovers. Our effort had been great, we have been putting things together and have not been shooting ourselves in the foot.”

Tecumseh jumped out fast, as they scored on their opening drive, a seven-minute drive capped off with a Matt Crane 4-yard run with 5:13 left in the opening period, giving the Arrows a 7-0 lead.

Shawnee came right back on their first drive, as they scored on a touchdown pass with 1:08 left in the opening quarter, tying the game at seven.

Crane came right back early in the second period, as he broke free for a 32 yard touchdown run with 11:39 left in the half, and it gave the Arrows a 14-7 lead.

Two minutes later, Crane hit Clay Mastin on a 26-yard scoring strike, giving the Arrows a 21-7 lead at the half.

After a long scoreless third quarter, the Braves finally cut into the deficit with a score at the 48 second mark of the third, sending it to the fourth period a one score game.

“Shawnee came out to make it 21-14, but they made a couple of turnovers and we executed,” Cory said. “We hit a couple of big plays. Crane hit Brody Martin on a big third-and-20 play with a first down inside the ten yard line, and we punched it in.”

The fourth quarter belonged to Brandon Morgan, as he scored three times including a four yard run with 7:09 left in the game, pushing their lead to 28-14. Two minutes later, Morgan scored from 12 yards out to take their lead out to 35-14.

Their final score game at the 1:24 mark when Morgan completed the scoring hat trick with a two-yard touchdown run to cap the scoring.

“We needed to win all three phases of the game, as we came out and scored 42 points,” Cory said. “Our special teams came up with great plays and won the field position battle. We also caused a turnover with our kickoff team as well.”

“Our defense takes pride due to Tuffy (Thompson, former Arrows defensive coordinator), they take it serious and we haven’t played very well the last couple of weeks.”

Mastin and Justin Berry had key interceptions in the game, and they held the key Shawnee receiver to five catches for 43 yards, including none in the second half. Our secondary did a great job.”

Crane rushed for 122 yards, while Morgan had 57 yards with his three touchdowns.

Tipp comes to Tecumseh on Friday for a 7:30 game.