WEBB — The West Tallahatchie Choctaws had two weeks to prepare for their homecoming battle and Region 5-1A opener against the McEvans Warriors of Shaw, and they capitalized with several record-setting performances during a 54-8 victory here Friday night.
“Everybody played really, really well,” said West Tally head coach Shane Hargett, whose team improved to 4-1 overall. McEvans fell to 1-3.
“To start off the district 1-0 is always good,” Hargett added.
The coach pointed to several individual showings that he believes are school records.
Senior quarterback Tristian Hill passed for 340 yards and four touchdowns during an 8-of-16 outing. Hargett said Hill’s four passing touchdowns tied a school record set by Milton McGee in 2017.
Hill also carried the football for two more touchdowns, producing a total of six TDs in the game — perhaps another school record.
Hargett noted that senior receiver Arlanders Stovall snared six receptions for 190 yards to set a new West Tally single-game receiving mark. Stovall caught three of Hill’s touchdown passes.
Senior running back Isaac Day had six carries for 122 yards and two touchdowns.
Hargett had expressed concern for the potential impact of homecoming week distractions on his team, but he said everyone did a good job of staying focused on the ballgame.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the kids and the way they performed at homecoming in front of alumni,” he noted.
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The game began with the Choctaws kicking off to the Warriors, and during that initial drive the visitors moved the ball into scoring position at the West Tally 5-yard line.
“Fortunately, we held them there, and from that point on we played pretty good,” said Hargett.
The home team mounted an impressive first drive of their own, scoring on a 75-yard pass completion from Hill to Stovall.
Day followed that with a 65-yard breakthrough run for a touchdown during the Choctaws’ second possession of the evening.
Hill then recorded one of his two rushing touchdowns to make the score 22-0 by the end of the first quarter.
The Choctaws scored twice in the second period to go up 34-0 with the clock ticking down toward intermission.
McEvans took advantage of a breakdown in special teams play by West Tally to score on a long kickoff return and two-point conversion pass to make it 34-8 at the half.
After another touchdown in the third quarter, the Choctaws added two more in the fourth, noted Hargett.
R.J. Phillips grabbed a 65-yard Hill touchdown pass.
Reginald Walker converted three runs into six points on a trio of two-point plays.
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In addition to Day’s team-leading rushing effort, Hill had eight totes for 57 yards and Jamerrius Johnson one run for 5 yards.
After Stovall’s showing, Phillips caught two passes for 105 yards, Johnson had two grabs for 35 yards and Reginald Walker one for 10.
Lester Westbrook and Antonio Gipson had a pair of offensive pancake blocks. Ledarius Wright added one other pancake to the mix.
Defensively, Westbrook led the team with five tackles, four of which were solos. Cameron Christian also had four individual stops. Four Choctaws — Hill, Phillips, Kelvin Johnson and Artavis Pimpton — recorded three solo tackles. Phillips also snared one sack for a 10-yard loss. Antonio Gipson had two solo tackles and one assist.
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This week, West Tally will travel deep into the Delta to face the South Delta Bulldogs of Rolling Fork, who are 1-5.
However, Hargett said the one win against five losses is a very misleading statistic.
“Their record is not anywhere close to being indicative of their season,” he said. “They’ve played a lot of good football teams.”
Three of South Delta’s five losses have been by four points or less. Last week, 1A Hollandale Simmons — “top to bottom, noted Hargett — trampled the dawgs 38-0 in their worst defeat. Class 3A Humphreys County, who beat South Delta 14-0 on Sept. 6, is now 6-0 on the year. Class 2A Leflore County, who edged the Bulldogs 18-14 on Sept. 13, is 4-2. South Delta hung with Class 3A Amanda Elzy (3-3), losing by two, 46-44.
Other than rival Charleston, who three weeks ago handed the Choctaws their only loss, Hargett said South Delta will be “our toughest game to date.”
In addition, it will be homecoming in Rolling Fork.
“This is a huge game against a really good football team,” said Hargett. “They’ve got some really good players and they do a lot of things well. We’ve got to protect the football and play assignments. Defensively, we have to make sure we dot our i’s, because they throw a lot to their backs out of the backfield and run a lot of misdirection. We’ve just got to be prepared for that.”
