PELAHATCHIE — The 2½-hour road trip was not ideal, but the Charleston Tigers cashed in with a 30-7 win here Friday night.
In visiting the Pelahatchie Chiefs in Rankin County, the Tigers fulfilled a two-year home and away pact made between the teams in 2021, when both were desperately seeking an opponent to fill one of the several open dates they found on their respective schedules.
Hopefully, Taylor noted, the long drive there is over, as he already is looking for someone else to fill that date slot in 2023.
“I do want to thank the fans who made the trip,” he noted.
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The win ends a two-game losing streak for the Tigers, who evened their record at 2-2. Pelahatchie fell to 0-4.
“We had a pretty good showing on Friday night. It’s good to get back on the winning side,” said Taylor, who noted that he told players “we were only going to enjoy [the win] until we got back home, because it was time to focus on the next test. And the next test is a whole lot tougher.”
This week, Charleston will play host to the 3-1 Clarksdale High School Wildcats, fresh from a 27-20 home loss to South Panola.
“We don’t expect anything but their best this Friday night,” Taylor said of Clarksdale, who defeated Charleston 27-0 last season on Coahoma County turf.
Taylor said Clarksdale is a power running team.
CHS head coach LaDon Taylor (Photo by Kelly Paris)
“They’ve got a really big offensive line, and they just lean and lay on you,” he noted. “That makes it tough.”
Being a 4A program, Taylor said Clarksdale coaches likely will imprint on players to come to 2A Charleston and “do what they’re supposed to do.”
The second-year head coach admitted that this is a stiff challenge.
“This is one of those tests that, on paper, people are going to say we probably don’t have a chance. But that’s not our mindset. Our mindset is, if we play Charleston football the right way, we’ve got a chance to beat whoever we play,” said Taylor. “But there’s a lot of things that we have to do well. ... We can’t have turnovers. Ball control is going to be very important. Defensively, lining up correctly and doing a really good job of tackling” are critical.
Kickoff is at 7:30 Friday.
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At Pelahatchie last week, Charleston showcased the ground game, rushing for 157 yards. Four different players had double-digit run yardage.
“We tried to spread the ball around as much as we could,” said Taylor. “We try to do that every game, but different things might stop us. Sometimes, one back might be playing a ... bit better than the other, or something like that.”
One week after surrendering four turnovers to Leflore County, the Tigers committed one at Pelahatchie.
“You don’t want to have one turnover, but it’s better than the last game,” said Taylor. “We’re definitely proud of that. But as the season goes on, we’ve got to get where turn-overs are not an issue at all.”
Charleston scored three times in the first half.
Dre Riley had a hand in two touchdowns. He ran for a 15-yard TD, followed by a conversion run by Marcus Flowers, at 11:02 in the first quarter.
Riley hit Terrence Marco for a 20-yard touchdown with 7:09 in the first quarter. Corterrius Johnson carried for the two-point conversion.
Marcus Flowers scored at 3:36 in the second quarter on an 8-yard carry. The conversion try, a pass, was no good.
The Tigers led 22-0 at the intermission.
Quentin Carter closed out Charleston scoring on a 21-yard TD run with 38 seconds remaining in the third quarter. Devon Olive passed to Jaylon Brooks for the two-pointer.
Pelahatchie got on the scoreboard against CHS reserves with 7:54 left in the fourth quarter on a 5-yard TD run by Elijah Williams. Symon Stringer’s PAT kick sailed true.
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Statistically for Charleston, Olive completed 4-of-8 passing for 33 yards and one interception. Riley connected on 1-of-3 attempts for a score.
Marco had three catches for 42 yards, Brooks one for 7 and Roger Haywood one for 4.
Flowers led the ground attack with 10 carries for 56 yards. Carter had five totes for 46 yards, Johnson six for 39 yards and Riley five for 27 yards — all averaging more than 5 yards per carry.
Defensively, Timothy Kirk led the charge for the Tigers by compiling a total of five tackles — three solos and two assists. Goliday had three solo tackles, while Latese Edwards had two individuals and one assist.
Elijah Buckley, Kelby James, De’Anthony Gipson and Kameron Andrews all posted two solo tackles in the game. Montra Sanford tacked on one solo and one assist.
The Tigers continue to rest starting quarterback and all-around athlete Rod Obannon, who injured and then reinjured a shoulder and did not play last week.
“Rod Obannon, he’s getting a little better,” said Taylor. “We’re hoping that he’ll be ready by division. We’re not going to even take a chance to play him until then, if we can play him then.”
CHS opens region Oct. 7.
