ROLLING FORK — The West Tallahatchie High School Choctaws slammed the South Delta Bulldogs 52-14 here Friday night.
West Tally improved to 5-1 on the season (and 2-0 in Region 5-1A) while South Delta fell to 1-6.
“We knew going into the game that, other than Charleston, South Delta was probably the best team that we had faced so far,” said West Tally head coach Shane Hargett. “They had some injuries, but they also helped us out with four turnovers in the first quarter.”
Hargett said the visiting Choctaws were able to parlay three of those turnovers into points.
West Tally took the game’s opening kickoff, and on their first offensive play from scrimmage, senior running back Isaac Day raced around the left end on a buck sweep en route to a 57-yard touchdown run.
“First play of the game, touchdown!” Hargett said.
Conversely, South Delta’s first offensive play resulted in a pass interception by Reginald Walker, who had two picks Friday.
“They kind of picked on him a lot in the passing game and he stepped up and played real well,” Hargett noted of the junior.
After that turnover, the Choctaws drove down inside the Bulldogs’ 1-yard line.
“We had some miscommunication on our line of scrimmage as far as blocking assignments go, and they ended up stopping us there on fourth down,” the coach said. “Then they fumbled the ball right back to us.”
This time, the visitors capitalized on the home team’s mistake when quarterback Tristian Hill scored on an off-tackle quarterback keeper, the first of five rushing touchdowns Hill had on the night. Hill passed for another TD.
“He had another good, solid game,” Hargett said of Hill. “I’m just really proud of him.”
The Choctaws’ third touchdown was set up by Arlanders Stovall’s 49-yard reception from Hill that he ran down to the 1-yard line. Hill scored on another keeper.
Right before the half, Hill connected with Jamerrius Johnson on a fly route down the left side of the field for a 33-yard scoring strike.
Johnson converted a pair of two-yard runs in the game, Hargett noted.
The home team scored twice, including one following an interception that the Bulldogs ran back to the West Tally 7. They scored shortly thereafter.
Despite a few hiccups, Hargett said the Choctaws performed well in the game.
“We’re just proud of the guys,” he noted. “We hope to keep the momentum going.”
Statistically, Hill completed 3-of-6 passes for 104 yards.
Stovall had one reception for 49 yards, Johnson one for the 33-yard touchdown and Day one for 23 yards.
Day led the West Tally ground attack, gaining 167 yards on 14 carries. Hill carried 19 times for 158 yards, Johnson had three runs for 31 yards, Walker one for 8 yards and R.J. Phillips one for 5.
Offensively, Lester Westbrook led the charge with three pancake blocks. Bryton Rosebud, Antonio Gipson and Ledarius Wright had one pancake block apiece in the game.
Defensively, Hill and Stovall racked up four individual tackles each to lead the unit. Artavis Pimpton, Cameron Christian and Westbrook had three solo stops apiece. Day, Phillips, Kelvin Robison and Gipson had two each. Johnson added one.
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This Friday, West Tally will play host to the West Bolivar Eagles, who are 1-6 on the season after suffering a 26-6 defeat to Shaw last week.
The Choctaws coach said the Eagles are “not as bad as their record.”
“West Bolivar has been plagued by some injuries at key positions that have hurt them,” said Hargett. “We don’t know if those injured players will be back, but I know a couple of them have been out a week or two.”
Providing added momentum for West Tally this week is the fact it will be senior night at Choctaw Stadium.
“We’re proud of our seniors and wish them a good game,” said Hargett. “We encourage the fans to come out and support them.”
The coach said seniors will be celebrated at halftime.
Kickoff is 7 p.m.
Hargett said the Choctaws will try to continue building on their momentum now that they are in region play.
“We just want to keep going and try to take one game at a time,” he noted.
