It was all Charleston Friday, Oct. 22, as the Tigers crushed the M.S. Palmer Dragons 42-0 on a night when both seniors and homecoming maids were honored at Tiger Stadium.
CHS improved to 5-3 and Palmer slipped to 2-8.
The Tigers also officially clinched the Region 3-2A championship, but don’t look for head coach LaDon Taylor to acknowledge that just yet.
“I try to keep my kids, staff and myself on pins at all times,” Taylor said Tuesday. “Nothing is a given until you completely finish it.”
By finishing, Taylor means running the table in the region, which the Tigers would be able to do by defeating the 3-4 Coahoma County Red Panthers in the regular-season finale Thursday night in Clarksdale.
Last week, Coahoma County was creamed 43-6 by cross-city rivals, the Clarksdale High School Wildcats.
“We still need to win this game in order to finish off the division run,” Taylor added..
Above all, Taylor wanted his team to stay sharp, focused.
“It’s very easy to be complacent,” he noted. “You want to finish strong, because that one week that you take off could carry over into the next week, and we know how important that next week will be. It will be the first round of the playoffs, and it’ll be win or go home.”
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Winning is what last week’s game was all about, as the Tigers jumped out to a 20-0 first-quarter lead and never looked back.
Just 42 seconds into the game, at 11:18, Rod O’Bannon passed to Terrance Marco for a 22-yard touchdown.
About four minutes later, at the 7:04 mark, O’Bannon connected with Clay Taylor for a 39-yard score.
Both of those conversion tries, first a kick and then a run, were no good.
CHS head coach LaDon Taylor watches from the sideline as the final 50 seconds tick off the clock in his team's 42-0 win over M.S. Palmer at Tiger Stadium in Charleston. (Photo by Clay McFerrin)
With 3:02 in the opening act, Quinterrius Goliday intercepted a pass and returned it about 45 yards for a touchdown. Mac Kimble ran in the two-point conversion.
In the second quarter, Markevious Prince ran for a 12-yard touchdown at 8:55.
The Tigers closed out scoring with two third-quarter touchdowns.
The first was by the defensive unit, as Clay Taylor picked up a fumble at the Palmer 42 and returned it for a touchdown at 6:09. Defensive tackle Quintavious Davis — all 245 pounds of him — then smashed through to convert on a two-point run.
Prince closed out scoring on a 35-yard TD run with 2:17 left in the period. O’Bannon ran for the two-point conversion and the final points of the contest.
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Statistically, O’Bannon completed 3-of-12 passes for 66 yards and two touchdowns.
Clay Taylor had one grab for 39 yards, Marco one for 22 and Korvel Murray one for 5.
In the rushing attack, Prince had seven carries for 72 yards, Quinterrius Suggs six for 43 yards and Marcus Flowers three for 6 yards.
Defensively, Korvel Murry made four solo tackles; Goliday had two tackles and the pick six; Omar Wilson, Jaylon Brooks, Taylor and Suggs all netted two solo stops and one assist; and Tracy Truly had two assists and a sack.
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Taylor said his team is “slowly, week to week, getting better at the little things that we want to try to have fixed by playoff time.”
“This is the time of year when you really need to start jelling and coming together, doing all the little things right,” the coach added. “We’re getting to that point. We still have some things that need to be cleaned up, but we’re going in the right direction.”
