The Class 6A Horn Lake High School Eagles walloped the Class 3A Charleston High School Tigers 40-8 at Tiger Stadium Friday night.
Horn Lake improved to 2-0 while Charleston fell to 2-1.
The 32-point margin of defeat was Charleston’s worst since Nov. 29, 2013, when Louisville beat the Tigers 35-0 in the 3A North State title game on the same field that Friday night’s fiasco unfolded.
“I don’t have any words,” CHS head coach Scott Martin said Tuesday, before pausing and finally finding a few to sum up his team’s loss.
“We played awful,” he noted. “We didn’t play hard. It was very uncharacteristic of a Charleston Tigers team. It was just an awful game.”
Two telling statistics were that the normally stingy Tigers’ defense surrendered 353 rushing yards and allowed two 100-yard runners — junior Tyler Grim had 14 carries for 208 yards — while the usually prolific CHS ground game accounted for just 28 yards on 40 attempts.
“A lot of times, a good team will make another good team look bad,” said Martin.
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Horn Lake scored twice in the first half — on a run of 15 yards by Patrick Gilliam at 3:47 in the first quarter and 50 yards by Grim at 6:26 in the second. Charleston’s Fred Hervey closed the gap on a 1-yard run with 34 seconds left in the half, and the Tigers went into the locker room down 13-8.
“We played decent the first half, but in the second half we ran out of steam,” said Martin.
Grim scored on second-half runs of 20, 9 and 3 yards, while dual-threat quarterback Raydarious Jones, who had 12 carries for 108 yards, scored on a 31-yard scamper.
Horn Lake never punted.
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Statistically for Charleston, Dontarius Cosby completed 3-of-9 passes for 35 yards. Fred Hervey was 1-of-1 for 24 yards. DeAntre Prince had two receptions for 35 yards, Hervey had one grab for 22 and Laderius Curtis snared one ball for 2 yards.
Quentin “Quynn” Crawford led the Tigers with 11 runs for 20 yards. Hervey had eight totes for 12 yards.
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This week, Charleston opens a three-game stretch on the road that will serve as the final tune-up before the Tigers begin play in Region 3-3A.
First up this Friday night are the 1-2 Senatobia High School Warriors, who last week edged Independence 37-36 in overtime.
“They’re a very good, balanced team,” Martin said of Senatobia. “We’ve got to regroup and be ready to play.”
IN THE PHOTO: Charleston’s Rantravious Carmichael intercepts a first-half pass, one of the few positive plays for the Tigers in their 40-8 loss to Horn Lake Friday night. (Photo by Kelly Paris)
