The Charleston High School Tigers are 2-2 on the season after defeating the Pelahatchie Chiefs 36-8 in the CHS home opener Friday night, Sept. 17.
Pelahatchie fell to 2-2.
It was Charleston’s first earned win. The other W came by way of a West Tallahatchie forfeiture on Aug. 27.
“We came out the first half against Pelahatchie and made a few plays, but we still didn’t play our best,” noted first-year CHS head coach LaDon Taylor. “I thought we came out the second half ... and we decided to play like we are capable of doing. Even with that, there still were a lot of mistakes that we need to fix.”
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Charleston scored in the first quarter Friday night on an 11-yard pass from Rod O’Bannon to Terrence Marco. The PAT was no good.
The Tigers added a safety in the second period after the Pelahatchie signal-caller lost the handle on the ball deep in his own territory and the Charleston D tackled him in the end zone.The Chiefs’ lone score came later in the second on a freak play that saw the ball snapped over the head of the QB, who chased it down, picked it up and rambled 85 yards for a TD. A two-point conversion pass was good, and the halftime score was tied at 8.
In the third quarter, O’Bannon scored on a 3-yard run, then carried for the two-pointer that gave CHS a 16-8 lead.
Later in the third, Markevious “Mook” Prince had a pick six.
The Tigers topped off scoring in the fourth quarter on a 5-yard pass from O’Bannon to Marco (a pass from O’Bannon to Maquarious Kimble tacked on the two-pointer) and on a 3-yard run by Timothy Kirk (a two-point run try was no good).
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Statistically, O’Bannon completed 6-of-13 passes for 68 yards. Marco had four grabs for 48 yards and Clay Taylor corralled one for 20.
A CHS runner picks up some blocks from teammates while Pelahatchie defenders close in. (Photo by Kelly Paris)
O’Bannon led CHS rushers with 18 carries for 68 yards, while Corterrius Johnson ran nine times for 63 yards. Prince had three rushes for 21 yards, Quinterrius Suggs five for 17, Taylor three for 16 and Timothy Kirk four for 11.
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This week, Charleston travels into Coahoma County to face the 1-1 Clarksdale High Wildcats during homecoming at that school.
The Wildcats defeated Cleveland Central 21-7 to open the season and lost a narrow 24-20 decision to South Panola last week.
Taylor said Clarksdale will be a good litmus test for his team that will, hopefully, help to get the players focused and pumped up for the start of regional play in two weeks.
The coach said the Wildcats “are huge across the board and have really good athletes.”
“The offensive and defensive fronts have some pretty big guys, so it will be a definite test for us this week,” he noted. “We’re going to be up for the challenge. We’re going to throw everything we can at them and we’re going to fight until the end.”
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Anyone planning to attend the Charleston High School at Clarksdale High School football game Friday night must purchase an advance ticket, Taylor noted.
Taylor said Clarksdale uses GoFan, a professional digital ticketing and event management system for high schools, which allows fans to purchase their tickets online.
Clarksdale does not sell tickets at the gate, Taylor stressed.
“If anyone drives over [to Clarksdale] and they have not already purchased a ticket, they’re not going to let them in,” the coach explained.
Tickets for Friday’s game may be purchased online at https://bit.ly/3hUPdGm.
GoFan delivers tickets via email, app or in real time, according to the GoFan website.
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Charleston High School head football coach LaDon Taylor. (Photo by Kelly Paris)
More Head Coach Quotes
» On stellar special teams play:
Taylor lauded Terrence Marco’s play in the kicking game, saying he has been doing “a wonderful job, especially on punts.”
“That's been a special teams weapon for us this year, because he's been doing a really fine job of punting the ball, which helps us defensively where we're not giving teams a short field. That's been a really good deal for us this year."
» On sub(stantial) performances:
Taylor applauded freshman Latice “Tee” Edwards, a 6-0, 188-pound linebacker who had multiple tackles and two sacks in limited second-half action at Leflore County.
"We had an injury and we had to put him in, and he went out there and performed," said Taylor. "He played really well. I thought that was big for his confidence going into this week against Clarksdale and for the division play that starts Oct. 8."
In addition, the coach said backup quarterback Clay Taylor played well two weeks ago.
"We went into that game [at Leflore County] without our quarterback [Rod O'Bannon]. He was out that game, and we found out on Wednesday of that week, which is the last working day. So we had to make some major changes and put somebody else at quarterback," the coach explained. "I thought Clay Taylor did an excellent job of stepping in and filling that role."
» On offensive coaching:
Taylor lauded offensive coordinator Kameron Myers, whom he said "is doing a wonderful job with the offense," adding, "Everybody on that offensive side — Kameron Myers, Jerry Richardson, Jamal Brock — they do a wonderful job."
» On playing larger classification schools, like Clarksdale:
"I remind the kids every day that we've always played bigger schools," said Taylor. "We don't go into other games with the mindset that they're a bigger school; we go into that game with the mindset that we are going to make ourselves better for our division."
» On slow starts against Leflore County and Pelahatchie:
At Leflore, the coach said, "We just didn't play well the first half as a club. We had a real spirited conversation at halftime, and they came out and performed like we thought that they could in the second half of that game."
Against Pelahatchie, Taylor noted, "Going into this game, we had that same lack of focus and not being ready to play for some reason. We try to keep [the players] sitting down and quiet and focused before the game. We put them in situations to be focused, but at the end of the day, they have to buckle down and actually do it."
