The Charleston High School Tigers were defeated 52-8 by the DeSoto Central High School Jaguars in Southaven Friday night, Sept. 25.
The 44-point loss by Charleston (3-2) to DeSoto Central (3-1) was the worst suffered by the Tigers program this century.
Class 7A DeSoto dressed out 107 players to Class 2A Charleston’s 32 athletes, but CHS head coach Rasheed DeBerry was not looking to use that for rationalization.
“That is always a factor when you play a larger school, but that is something that Charleston is known to do and known to fare well doing, so definitely we don’t make that excuse,” he said.
“We had quite a few mistakes that we need to clean up, especially when you’re already against those odds. It can easily go from a competitive game to a lopsided game, like you saw, which really doesn’t reflect the competitiveness of the two teams,” DeBerry added. “I always kind of hate when it goes that way, because it looks so bad, but a lot of it definitely was avoidable and can be avoidable in the future.”
DeSoto took the game’s opening kickoff and drove 66 yards to paydirt, scoring on a 3-yard run. The Jaguars kicked the PAT for a 7-0 lead.
Charleston answered with a 56-yard scoring drive that led to a 3-yard Santonio Bradley TD run. Coreyun Spearman, who broke a 44-yard scamper along the way, ran in the two-point conversion to give the Tigers an early 8-7 lead.
DeSoto scored on runs of 37 and 3 yards to take a 21-8 advantage at the half.
The third quarter was when all hope was lost for the visiting Tigers, as DeSoto scored 29 points on the strength of three rushing touchdowns of 1, 1, and 3 yards, and on a 60-yard pick-6. One of the TDs followed a Charleston fumble at the Tigers' 13-yard line.
DeSoto scored on a safety for their only points of the fourth period.
DeSoto benefited from a couple of special teams blunders by Charleston, including one that allowed the Jaguars to begin a drive at the CHS 1-yard line after a misjudgment by the kick returner, said DeBerry. Thinking the ball was going to roll into the end zone for a touchback, the Tigers’ return man let it go. The Jaguars pounced on it at the 1 and scored on the next play.
— * —
Statistically, Bradley completed 5-of-12 passes for 19 yards and two interceptions.
Demarion Johnson caught one pass for 5 yards and Quay Kimble one for 3. CHS stats Tuesday did not account for the other 11 passing yards.
Spearman led the Tigers with 67 yards on 15 carries. Bradley had 12 rushes for 47 yards. D’andre Booker posted two carries for 14 yards and Quin Cashaw one for 3.
One silver lining for Charleston was that the Tigers suffered no notable injuries against DeSoto.
“For the most part, I think we’ll be good,” said DeBerry. “A little soreness, but nothing significant.”
— * —
This week, the Tigers will be returning to DeSoto County for their last of three consecutive away games when they face the 94-player roster of the Class 6A Olive Branch Conquistadors (2-3).
Olive Branch has lost two in a row to a couple of undefeated Class 4A teams — a 45-27 decision at Kosciusko on Sept. 18 and, last week, a 35-9 beatdown at Senatobia.
“Another test for us,” said DeBerry, who explained that the Tigers have some familiarity with Olive Branch after watching and facing them at a 7-on-7 tournament at Oxford High School this summer.
“They actually eliminated us and went on to win the tournament,” he recalled.
Whereas DeSoto Central was a run-heavy team utilizing a lot of heavy sets, Olive Branch will feature more of an air attack, DeBerry said.
“The quarterback has a big arm. We’re going to have to defend space, be sharp on the back end and make sure we’re playing sound and executing our plan,” he noted. “It’s going to require the same amount of mental toughness, focus, avoiding those miscommunications, bonehead plays, assuming things, more communicating.”
The coach said he is looking to see how his team responds after last week.
“Hopefully, that was a humbling experience for us and, hopefully, on Part 2 of going to DeSoto County and playing a bigger school, we come out and execute a lot better and show that we can actually play four quarters — not just a few plays or first half, but four quarters — against a larger school,” he said.
“I have the same confidence in them,” DeBerry added of his players. “Hopefully, we got a few things fixed that got exposed or got out of hand last week.”
— * —
Looking ahead, on Oct. 9, Charleston will return to the friendly confines of Tiger Stadium for a homecoming tilt against Leland in the first of four Region 3-2A games to finish out the regular season.
