For a fourth straight year, the Charleston High School Tigers are varsity football champions of Region 3-2A, after closing out the regular season with a 42-10 victory over regional foe Leflore County Friday night.
With its home win, Charleston improved to 8-2 on the season while Leflore County fell to 6-4.
Taylor said it is always “a great feeling” to win the region title, adding, “I’m really proud of that.”
Prior to the game, the coach said he challenged his players to continue a winning streak.
“I told the kids that everybody in that locker room, with the exception of the ninth-graders, had been [region] champs every year they have been in high school,” noted Taylor. “I said we needed to start the streak for the ninth-graders and keep it going for everyone else.”
Their first-place finish in the region means the Tigers will host the fourth-place team in Region 2-2A, the 2-8 M.S. Palmer Dragons, in a first-round playoff game Friday night. Kickoff is at 7.
Despite their record — Palmer has lost five in a row, including 44-6 at Calhoun City last week — the CHS coach said the Dragons have athletic players that the Tigers cannot take lightly.
“If you blink, they can get away from you,” Taylor noted. “Hopefully, we will just stay locked in and do our assignments the right way. If we do what we’re supposed to do, we can look forward to moving on.”
Next up for the winner of Friday’s contest is a second-round clash with either the 8-3 Sebastopol Bobcats or the 5-4 East Union Urchins. A Charleston win would ensure them a home game Nov. 15.
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Against Leflore, CHS fell behind 2-0 on a safety after a special teams player failed to escape the end zone on a punt return in the first quarter.
The home team responded with two second-quarter touchdowns, including a 92-yard pass from Devon Olive to Quentin Carter and a 2-yard run by Marcus “Deuce” Flowers. Latese Edwards ran for the two-pointer.
Leflore County drove to the Charleston 2-yard line just before the half, but with the clock running inside 10 seconds and having no timeouts, they could not get another play off before the horn. Charleston led 14-2.
Early in the second half, Olive hit Demarion Johnson in the flat and he raced along the CHS sideline for a 37-yard touchdown.
Flowers scored second-half rushing touchdowns of 20 and 8 yards. Brandon Henderson ran for a conversion after the second TD.
Working largely against Charleston subs, Leflore County’s offense finally penetrated the end zone on a rushing touchdown with 6:18 left in the fourth period and ran for the conversion.
Olive capped scoring by hitting Henderson for a 42-yard TD with 2:03 remaining and executing a flawless fake to waltz in for the conversion.
