WEBB — Miscues and missed opportunities doomed the West Tallahatchie Choc-taws in a 14-8 overtime loss to O’Bannon Friday night.
West Tally fell to 0-2 while O’Bannon improved to 1-1.
“The defense was tremendously better than the week before. Offensively, we just didn’t execute,” said WTHS head coach Shane Hargett.
“We missed wide-open passes and we dropped a couple,” he added.
The Choctaws had seven turnovers against O’Bannon, including five fumbles and two interceptions. A week earlier against Charleston, West Tally had five turnovers.
“That’s 12 turnovers in two games. You’re not going to beat anybody if you can’t take care of the ball, and we’ve got to do better about that,” Hargett said. “We’ve got to get back to doing some fundamental stuff right. We’ve got to take care of the football. That’s the biggest takeaway.”
In the second half, the Choctaws had two scores wiped out by holding penalties: a defensive pick six and an offensive rushing touchdown.
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O’Bannon went ahead 2-0 at 5:47 in the first quarter when the Choctaws, backed up around their 10, tried to punt. The ball was snapped over the head of the punter and rolled out the back of the end zone for a safety.
Ja’Quarius McGee scored on a long run for the Choctaws with 4:48 in the second quarter. McGee ran in the two-point conversion for an 8-2 West Tally lead.
O’Bannon took advantage of a blown coverage on a pass to a wide-open receiver, who jogged for a 75-yard touchdown with 1:49 in the half. The conversion try failed, and the score was knotted at 8 both at halftime and after a scoreless second half.
West Tally got the ball first in overtime but failed to score. O’Bannon ran two plays, scoring on a slant pass.
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This week, West Tally travels to face the 1-1 Coahoma County Red Panthers, who two weeks ago topped O’Bannon 16-0 but lost 28-12 to Independence last Friday.
“They’ve got tons of size, but we should be able to play with them if we take care of the football,” said Hargett. “It’s going to come down to execution and turnovers again. If we win the battle of the turnovers, we ought to be all right.”
