WEBB — The Charleston Tigers defeated the West Tallahatchie Choctaws 52-24 here Friday night, Sept. 20.
If that sounds a little familiar, it is because this was the Tigers’ 36th consecutive win in this cross-county rivalry match dubbed the “Battle of the Golden Egg.”
However, unlike many of the recent annual contests in this storied series, last week’s battle proved not so cut and dry — at least early on.
For more than one half, this game really was a battle.
The Choctaws took an early lead and trailed only 18-16 at the half.
Not since a 2006 egg game in Charleston, when the Tigers led 13-7 at the break before going on to win 19-13, had the contest remained so competitive at the intermission.
“We didn’t play our best the first half, and they were on fire,” CHS head coach LaDon Taylor said of the Choctaws. “They definitely hit us in the mouth, and we had to regroup at the half. ... I’m glad we were able to come out with a win.”
West Tally head coach Shane Hargett, whose Class 1A Choctaws suffered their first loss of the season to stand at 3-1 heading into a bye, saw Class 2A CHS climb to 3-1.
“We knew we had to play perfect to beat them,” Hargett said. “We gave them all we had and probably scared the heck out of them for a little while. We’re very proud of our kids. They came out and played pretty good early. But hats off to Charleston. They played a good game. Good luck to them going forward.”
The last time West Tally scored so many points against Charleston was Oct. 20, 2000, when CHS won a 54-40 shootout at Tiger Stadium. Amzi Burt Jr. was the Choctaws' head coach and Jamie Mitchell was head coach of the Tigers.
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The Choctaws took the opening kickoff and put together a nine-play, 90-yard drive that ended in a 70-yard touchdown pass from Tristian Hill to Reginald Walker. Hill connected with Arlanders Stovall for the two-point conversion to go up 8-0.
The euphoria in Choctaw Stadium was short-lived, however, as the Tigers’ Quentin Carter scored on a 70-yard return on the ensuing kickoff. The conversion run failed. West Tally still led, 8-6, with 6:51 in the first quarter.
After a Choctaws punt, the Tigers drove 70 yards in seven plays, with the biggest chunk coming in the form of a 54-yard dash by Marcus “Deuce” Flowers Jr. that took the ball to the West Tally 5. Two snaps later, Timothy Kirk Jr. scored on a 7-yard carry. The conversion again failed, but CHS led 12-8 with 1:52 left in the opening frame.
The Choctaws’ Hill lost one yard on the opening play of the next drive but then ran for gains of 13 and 39 yards on back-to-back snaps to take the ball to the CHS 8.
That drive led to the first of two squandered West Tally scoring opportunities on back-to-back second-quarter possessions that penetrated inside the Tigers’ 5-yard line.
The first drive ended on a fourth-and-goal run at the 2-yard line that lost 2 yards.
After a Charleston punt from their own 4-yard line, the Choctaws began their next possession at their own 48-yard. An 8-yard pass from Hill to Isaac Day blossomed on a 15-yard face mask call against the Tigers that took the ball to the CHS 29. Day ran for 10 yards, Hill hit Stovall for 14 yards, and once again the Choctaws found themselves knocking on the door with a first-and-goal at the visitors’ 5-yard line.
Like the first deep foray, West Tally stalled. Three successive runs were stuffed by the Charleston defense for no gain. A fourth-and-goal pass from the 5 fell incomplete with 4:52 remaining.
The two coaches see that series in a different light.
“Those were two big goal-line stops that we really needed,” said Taylor. “Momentum was definitely in their favor at that time.”
Hargett pointed to “some miscommunication” among his offensive players.
“On one play, half the offense said they heard one play call and a couple others said they didn’t hear the same call,” he noted. “We went different directions on the play.”
After the second turnover on downs, Charleston took the ball at their own 5. The Tigers scored five plays later on an 82-yard bomb from Devon Olive to Carter, who had beaten one-on-one coverage to catch the ball around the 30 before taking it to the house. The conversion try failed, but CHS led 18-8 with 2:32 in the first half.
As had the Tigers after an earlier touchdown by the Choctaws, West Tally struck with some lightning of their own when Day returned the ensuing kickoff 81 yards for a score. Day passed to Hill for the conversion, closing the CHS lead to 18-16 at 2:18 before the half.
The Tigers did mount another drive before the break, marching 51 yards in six plays before Stovall intercepted an Olive pass at the 10-yard line as the buzzer sounded to close out the half.
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The teams swapped interceptions to start the third quarter, with Day picking off Olive at the West Tally 22 and Kirk cutting off a Hill pass at the Choctaws’ 36.
The Tigers then struck on the first play after Kirk’s pick with a 36-yard TD strike from Olive to a wide-open Flowers. CHS led 24-16 at 8:18.
Charleston’s defense turned up the pressure on Hill, sacking him once and hitting him again to set up a fourth-and-21 from the Chocs’ 20.
On the first play after the punt, Tee Edwards faked a handoff before breaking upfield en route to a 60-yard touchdown. Charleston went up 30-16 at 6:33 in the third.
Although West Tally did a good job of tying up Flowers for most of the night, the running back did break through for a 21-yard gain to set up a 17-yard TD pass from Olive to David Ray with 41 ticks left in the third. Flowers then ran for the conversion, giving Charleston a 38-16 lead.
Three plays after the ensuing kickoff, Hill completed a deep pass to Stovall for a 64- yard touchdown. Hill kept for the conversion, cutting the Tigers’ lead to 38-24 at 11:48 in the fourth quarter.
After Olive hit Ray for a 40-yard pass completion to the West Tally 25, he then connected with Brandon Henderson for the touchdown. Olive hit Kirk for the conversion and a 46-24 CHS lead with 11:02 remaining.
On the Choctaws’ following possession, Flowers had a 75-yard pick-6 nullified by a flag. Charleston did keep the ball and eventually score on a 25-yard pass from Olive to Ray, who had spun away from a would-be tackler to reach the end zone. The conversion failed, but the Tigers were on top 52-24 at 6:30.
A last-gasp Choctaws drive ended in a Demarion Johnson interception of a Hill pass as the final buzzer sounded.
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Olive completed 13 of 19 passes for 301 yards, five touchdowns and two picks.
“I thought our quarterback was very good this week,” said Taylor. “When I saw the stats, over 300 yards passing, five touchdowns, 13 of 19, that’s good stuff.”
Carter led the Tigers with six catches for 121 yards, Ray was close behind with four grabs for 86 yards, Henderson three for 46, Kirk one for 25 and Flowers one for 23.
Flowers led CHS runners with 16 carries for 107 yards. Edwards had the one carry for 60, Carter three for 13 and Olive four for 7.
For West Tally, Hill completed 10-of-24 passes for 191 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions, and he also led the team’s ground attack by gaining 64 yards on eight carries.
Stovall caught five balls for 101 yards, Walker one for 67, Day one for 15, Johnson two for 13 and Hill one for 5.
Day had seven rushes for 40 yards.
When lumping in the 70-yard kick return, Carter led Charleston with 204 all-purpose yards, while for the Choctaws that honor went to Day with 137.
Defensively, CHS was led by Kirk, Kameron Andrews and Lamarion Brown, who had seven total tackles apiece. Henderson added five stops, Lemar Frost and Donkevion Harris had four each, and Edwards and C.J. Westbrooks tallied three tackles each.
West Tally’s defense was led by Westbrooks, who had six tackles; Stovall, five; Cameron Christian, four; and Hill, Artavis Pimpton and Kelvontae Garner, three each.
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This Friday, Charleston will host the Class 5A Cleveland Central Wolves, who are 4-0 after last week’s 43-6 beatdown of 0-4 Southaven.
“It’s another major test for our program,” said Taylor. “They have a really good quarterback and they want to throw the ball around, so we have to be on top of our game in the secondary and get some pressure on him.”
West Tally has an open date this week (Sept. 27), but Hargett said it won’t be a vacation.
“We’re not taking any days off,” he noted. “We’re going to practice this week just like it’s a game week.”
The Chocs open region play Oct. 4 by hosting McEvans of Shaw for homecoming.
