The Charleston High School Tigers crushed the Shelby Northside Gators 48-28 during homecoming Friday night (Oct. 24) at Tiger Stadium.
The Tigers improved their resume to 5-2 on the season while Northside suffered their first loss and fell to 7-1.
Charleston is a perfect 3-0 in Region 3-2A standings and has all but wrapped up the region championship for a fifth consecutive year.
The Tigers have a short week, hosting region foe M.S. Palmer Thursday night in the regular-season finale. The Marks football program is 0-9 on the season.
Charleston is 19-0 versus M.S. Palmer this century, posting nine shutouts and outscoring the Dragons 803-114 during that span for a per-game average score of 42-6.
First-year CHS head coach Rasheed DeBerry is not inspired by the history.
“Year in and year out, Palmer always has some big guys up front. It’s a game where some of our players know those players, and things of that nature,” he said. “And, of course, it’s a senior night game, so I’m always skeptical about making sure we’re focused, making sure we’re carrying the right momentum into the playoffs.
“With homecoming last week and senior night this week, that’s about two weeks straight of would-be distractions if we’re not careful, so that’s the biggest thing with a game like this at the end of the year. And making sure we try to remain healthy, as well.”
Palmer is coming off an 8-6 loss to J.Z. George, a team that Charleston defeated 42-12 two weeks ago.
Kickoff for Thursday’s game is 7 p.m., and fans are encouraged to dress warmly as temperatures are expected to be in the upper 40s during the game.
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CHS senior quarterback Devon Olive put on a show last week, passing for six touchdowns, believed to be a school record for one game.
DeBerry had high praise for Olive, saying he is “really calm” under pressure.
“Never gets too high, never gets too low,” the coach noted.
DeBerry said the Tigers entered the game hoping to flip Northside’s aggressive, blitz-happy defense to their advantage. Charleston’s reputation as a grind-it-out run team figured into the plan.
“Everybody probably thinks of (running back) Deuce Flowers first when playing us defensively,” he noted. “So it’s always good to be able to counter such a great player with some surrounding talent we have that often gets overlooked because we have a predominantly run-first offense. But we do have some guys that can make some big plays when called upon.”
Olive had touchdown passes of 57 yards to Tristen Flowers; 28 yards to Marcus “Deuce” Flowers; 16, 15 and 2 yards to Quentin Carter; and 12 yards to Quay Kimble.
Carter had four catches for 39 yards and Kimble one for 12 yards.
In addition to leading all receivers with five catches for 97 yards, Deuce Flowers powered the ground attack with 19 carries for 165 yards and a 60-yard TD. In all, Deuce accounted for 262 of his team’s 417 yards of total offense.
Coreyun Spearman ran six times for 36 yards while Kimble posted six totes for 29.
Spearman and Deuce Flowers ran for two-point conversions after touchdowns while Kimble converted one on a reception.
In addition to the Tigers’ offensive success against Northside, Charleston’s defense forced six turnovers that the home team was able to parlay into four touchdowns and 30 points. Tyler Kuykendall and E.J. Powell were among those recovering fumbles, and Josh Hardiman snared an interception.
Four of the turnovers gave the Tigers possession in Northside territory — at the 45-, 40-, 35- and 16-yard line.
“I’m glad we were able to capitalize on those turnovers like we did,” said DeBerry. “Those were very pivotal.”
Northside scored touchdowns on runs of 5 and 2 yards, a 75-yard kick return and a pass play.
