WEBB — Homecoming proved to be a sweet affair for the large crowd of alumni on hand to watch the West Tallahatchie High School Choctaws beat the West Bolivar Eagles 44-0 Friday night.
West Tally improved to 3-2 while West Bolivar fell to 1-4.
Including the previous week’s 38-0 road thrashing of Riverside, the Choctaws now have posted back-to-back shutout wins for the first time since late August 2016 (30-0 over Mound Bayou and 26-0 over Benton County).
“You always want to win homecoming,” said West Tally head coach Shane Hargett. “We had a lot of alumni there. ... There was a huge turnout, and we were happy to have the support.”
Since West Bolivar was the Region 2-1A opener, the Choctaws now share the early lead in region standings, with six more regional games remaining.
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Hargett lauded his team’s effort Friday night.
“You always worry about the level of focus on homecoming week. There’s tons of festivities and engagements that the players have to go to. But we did a good job,” said Hargett. “This may be the first game so far that we had zero turnovers. I don’t think we even fumbled. We’re protecting the football, and that’s part of your success.”
WTHS head coach Shane Hargett
It was an all-around strong game, the coach said.
“The defense played great. It’s getting better every week,” Hargett noted. “And offensively, we did an outstanding job controlling the ball, controlling the time of possession, which kind of limited their offense, too.”
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The Choctaws led 14-0 at the end of the first quarter and 28-0 at the half before scoring 8 points each in the final two frames to seal the waxing.
Hargett said sophomore Isaac Day scored four touchdowns, including two of over 45 yards, and totaled 235 yards rushing on 23 carries in the game — an average of 10.2 yards per touch.
“He just went wild,” Hargett said of Day’s haul.
The coach said Jalil Allison caught a 56-yard TD pass from Ja’Quarius McGee on a special wildcat-type play.
McGee scored one touchdown and amassed 115 yards on the ground. He also had a 70-yard scoring run called back on a holding call, Hargett explained.
Tristan Hill scored twice on 2-point conversions.
At quarterback, Hill was 5-of-9 for 75 yards.
Defensively, Tony Young registered 14½ tackles, the coach noted. Drexel Miller had two sacks and one fumble recovery. A.J. Pimpton added one sack and Sentrell Howard corralled an interception.
“I’m proud of the effort, proud we’re getting better every week,” said Hargett. “We’re exceeding all of our expectations right now. We just want to continue to show progress every week.”
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Winners of three in a row, the Choctaws host the 4-1 McEvans School Warriors of Shaw Friday night in Webb.
“This week we’ve got probably our toughest opponent to date,” said Hargett. “Of course, if we protect the football, we can play with anybody, as far as I’m concerned. But that’s what it’s going to come down to: turnovers and physicality.”
Hargett said McEvans is “very veteran-heavy” and that his team “is going to have to play a good football game.”
McEvans is coming off a 58-6 win over 0-5 Coffeeville last week. Their only loss to date came on Sept. 16 in a 12-8 defeat at the hands of now 3-2 Humphreys County.
