PASCAGOULA — The West Tallahatchie High School Choctaws traveled six hours and nearly 400 miles to reach the end of their 2019 football journey.
Their 54-20 loss to the Resurrection Catholic Eagles in the first round of the Class 1A state playoffs ended their season at 6-7. Resurrection Catholic improved to 9-2.
The Choctaws committed eight turnovers — five fumbles and three interceptions — on a night when head coach Lorenzo Pimpton said the kids were “lacking focus.”
“Out of those eight turnovers, five resulted in touchdowns,” he lamented.
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The home team jumped out to a 14-0 first quarter lead on a pair of rushing touchdowns.
The Choctaws actually trailed 33-0 before adding their first points of the game on a 67-yard TD run by Atraviuantay Clark with 3 minutes left in the second quarter.
They scored again with less than a minute left on a 30-yard Dontrel Byrd to Charles Spurlock pass.
The Urchins dominated the third quarter with a 12-yard TD pass, a 4-yard rushing TD and a 45-yard pick-six.
The Chocs’ last score of the night came via a 75-yard pass play from Byrd to Ja’quarius McGee. Byrd hit Malique McGee for the conversion.
Game stats were unavailable Wednesday morning.
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Despite the disappointing first-round playoff loss, Pimpton said he is proud of his team’s drastic turnaround from 2018 to 2019.
“A lot of people thought we weren’t going to do as well as we did, but I’m so proud of our kids,” he noted.
“We went from 0-11 last year to six wins in the regular season and making the playoffs this year,” he added. “I think it’s a big improvement for us as a team and a coaching staff, and I think we did a great job. I wish we could have gone further, but there were a lot of teams that didn’t play at all Friday night.”
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Pimpton said the Choctaws will return nine offensive starters and eight defensive starters in 2020 and expects to be greatly improved next year.
