WEBB — The West Tallahatchie High School Choctaws are scheduled to host the Simmons High School Blue Devils of Hollandale in a special Thursday night matchup this week, with the Region 5-1A championship hanging in the balance.
Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
Simmons enters the game with a 7-0 overall record while West Tally is 4-3, but the two are tied atop region standings with an identical mark of 3-0.
“This is for a championship and we’re playing at our place, so you never know what may happen,” said WTHS head coach Shane Hargett. “But we’re going to have to play a good football game.”
Simmons is coming off a 60-8 beatdown of Shaw while West Tally topped West Bolivar 18-6 last week in a game in which Hargett said the Choctaws played “sloppy.”
“We’ve got to do better than that Thursday to have a shot playing a great Simmons team,” he noted.
Shane Hargett
While Hargett called Simmons “a perennial power” and lauded the team as “fundamentally sound,” he also said “they don’t do anything we haven’t seen,” and added, “If we play football, we can play with them. But we have to protect the football and do what we’ve been coached to do.”
In the end, Hargett noted, “It’s just going to come down to execution. Time of possession, execution and turnovers; whoever wins that wins the ballgame.”
No matter the outcome, West Tally is assured no worse than the No. 2 seed in the region, which guarantees them a first-round home playoff game in the friendly confines of Choctaw Stadium.
West Tally last hosted — and, in fact, last won — a playoff game in 2017, when they beat Walnut 44-24 in a first-round tilt before losing on the road in the second round. The Chocs were runners-up that year in Region 3-2A behind South Delta. Since then, they have lost three first-round road playoff contests.
“That was one of our goals this season, to not have to drive to play a No. 1 or No. 2 seed on the road,” Hargett said.
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At Rosedale last week, the Choctaws jumped out to a fast start against the Eagles, going up 12-0 in the first quarter and 18-0 at the half.
Isaac Day scored all three West Tally touchdowns on runs of 70, 32 and 19 yards, Hargett said.
West Bolivar, now 2-6, scored their lone touchdown early in the third quarter on a 25-yard reverse play.
Hargett said the Choctaws missed out on several other scoring opportunities, having two touchdowns called back and another 70-yard run negated by a holding penalty.
“It was probably our worst game this season as far as penalties,” he noted. “We had 15 or so penalties for about 150 yards.”
Hargett said his team also committed several turnovers.
“In all honesty, we should have had about 40 points, but it is what it is,” he added. “An ugly win is better than a pretty loss.”
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West Tally will be closing out the regular season at home against Leland next Thursday night, Oct. 26.
The first round of the Class 1A state playoffs will be played throughout Mississippi on Friday, Nov. 3.
