CAMDEN — The West Tallahatchie Choctaws’ varsity football season came to an end Friday night with a 42-12 second-round playoff loss to the Velma Jackson Falcons.
Since 2005, West Tally is 0-4 in second-round state playoff games.
The Choctaws finished the campaign with an overall record of 8-3, their first eight-win season since 2017. Velma Jackson improved to 10-1.
“I’m proud of the guys,” WTHS head coach Shane Hargett said of his team. “The seniors accomplished so much. ... They never had a losing season and just got better every year, which is what you want to see. I’m going to miss them, and some of them have a future ahead of them playing football. Congratulations to them for having an outstanding career and an outstanding season.”
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Against Velma Jackson, senior running back Isaac Day scored on a 90-yard kickoff return and a 78-yard pass from senior quarterback Tristian Hill.
Hargett said the Choctaws “just didn’t play very well, but hats off to Velma Jackson. They’ve got a great team.”
“We didn’t play clean,” Hargett noted. “We’ve done real good in special teams all year, and two times we snapped the ball over the punter’s head and both of them led to scores.”
The coach said “mistakes killed us early,” citing three turnovers and 105 yards in penalties in just the first half.
“During our first drive, we drove down to their 26-yard line and had first and 10. A few plays later, it was fourth down and 35 after penalties,” Hargett said. “You have to stay ahead of stuff like that if you’re going to win against a good football team, and we just didn’t play clean enough.”
By game’s end, the coach said, the Choctaws “had at least five turnovers and about 180 yards in penalties.”
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Hargett lamented, as he has in the past, the fact that West Tallahatchie football is lumped in with South 1A teams when playoff time rolls around.
“I just hate it for the kids that we’re in Webb, Mississippi, and we’re having to go through these juggernauts in the South,” he said.
Twice in recent years, WTHS has had to travel to Pascagoula, on the Mississippi Coast, for first-round playoff games. Just week before last, a Hattiesburg school had to send its football team to Choctaw Stadium in Webb for a first-round playoff contest. And, of course, last week the Webb team traveled to Madison County near Jackson for its second-rounder.
The Mississippi High School Activities Association reclassification for 2025-2027 was announced just this week.
West Tally will be in football Region 4-1A, along with Coffeeville, French Camp and Leflore County, the latter of whom just moved down from Class 2A. None of those teams was in the Choctaws' region this season.
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The Choctaws will be losing a strong core group of players to graduation in May.
“We are losing eight out of 11 on offense — about 98% of our offensive production — and probably nine out of 11 on defense,” said Hargett. “But we’ve got a great group coming up from junior high and we’re really, really excited about those guys. I look forward to seeing what we’re going t
