Leflore County has had Charleston’s number as of late on the varsity gridiron, and the visitors from Itta Bena showed it again Friday night with a 20-14 win in a rain-drenched Tiger Stadium.
Leflore improved to 2-1 while Charleston fell to 1-2 on the young season.
On Tuesday, CHS head coach LaDon Taylor was not talking about Leflore’s third win in a row over Charleston — including the 2021 regular season and playoffs — but rather his team’s four turnovers in the two clubs’ most recent outing.
“That’s huge,” said Taylor. “One turnover is too many, but four? You can’t have that many turnovers against a good team.”
Charleston also gave up two long explosive plays for touchdowns, uncharacteristic of a CHS defense, but Taylor was willing to fall on his sword for the team.
"At the end of the day, it's all on me," the coach noted. "I've got to do a better job of getting the guys prepared. The assistant coaches, they do a great job of working with our kids, but, ultimately, at the end of the day it all falls on me and I understand that and I take the blame for us."
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The visitors took a 6-0 lead at 5:40 in the first quarter after Leflore’s Maurice Edwards covered the ball in the end zone for a touchdown following an off-target snap that led to a blocked punt. The conversion run failed.
After earlier woes at the position this season, Taylor said a new long snapper started for the Tigers Friday night. “For the most part, he snapped pretty good for us ... with the exception of that one. We’re still working on that.”
Charles-ton quarterback Rod Obannon connected with Dre Riley on a 47-yard touchdown pass that tied matters at 11:50 in the second period. The conversion run was stopped short.
With Leflore County backed up at their own 10-yard line, runner Dante Kelly broke through the line of scrimmage barely touched and turned on the jets, outrunning defenders for a 90-yard touchdown. Kelly carried for the conversion to give the guests a 14-6 lead with 2:42 before the half.
CHS head coach LaDon Taylor (Photo by Kelly Paris)
“It came down to execution,” Taylor said of the missed opportunity to perhaps force a punt and get good field position deep in Leflore territory right before the half.
“We had people in position. When I watched film on Saturday morning, I counted three people that had a chance to make a play and just didn’t,” he added.
Charleston trailed 14-6 at the intermission.
Leflore built on their advantage early in the second half when Steven Williams exploded for a 53-yard TD run. The conversion came up short, but the out-of-county Tigers led 20-6 with 10:10 to go in the third quarter.
Charleston responded with a Latese Edwards 9-yard scoring pass to Terrence Marco at 5:11 in the third act. Marcus Flowers ran in the two-point conversion to cut the home team’s deficit to 20-14, but the fourth quarter proved to be an exercise in futility for both teams.
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Leflore literally ran all over Charleston, rushing 34 times for 269 yards. The home team had 35 carries for 34 yards, less than a 1-yard average.
Neither team lit up the airwaves, with Charleston completing 5-of-15 passes for 97 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions, and Leflore hitting on 6-of-14 pass attempts for 51 yards.
In total yardage, Leflore topped Charleston 320 to 131, although the home team was able to reel off 50 offensive plays to the visitors’ 48.
CHS committed four turnovers while LCHS coughed up the ball twice on running plays.
Obannon, who sustained a shoulder separation against North Pontotoc on Sept. 2 and was limited in practice early last week, completed 4-of-10 passes for 88 yards. He also led Charleston rushers with eight carries for 24 yards.
Unfortunately for the Tigers, Obannon reinjured the shoulder Friday night, and Taylor said he will be out “for a while.” It is hoped he can return in time for the opening of Region 3-2A play Oct. 7 at North Side, the coach added.
Riley caught one pass for 47 yards, Marco three for 45 and Jaylon Brooks one for 5.
Flowers gained 15 yards on six carries for Charleston. Corterrius Johnson had 9 yards on seven totes.
Kelly keyed the Leflore offensive attack, gaining 223 yards on 22 rushing attempts.
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Friday, Charleston makes a roughly 2½-hour trip to Rankin County to face the 0-3 Pelahatchie Chiefs, fresh off a 36-9 drubbing by previously winless Lake.
While Pelahatchie has been outscored 124-21 in their three losses, there were a couple of tough matches. The Chiefs lost 46-9 to now 4-0 Copiah Academy and 42-6 to now 3-0 Florence.
“They still have some good players, just like they did last year. ... They’re coached up,” Taylor said of Pelahatchie, a team added to the CHS opponent mix a year go because of a mutually beneficial arrangement that helped both teams fill a gaping hole on their schedules.
In 2021, CHS beat Pelahatchie 36-8 at Tiger Stadium.
