MARKS — The Choctaws of West Tallahatchie High School skunked the Dragons of M.S. Palmer with a 22-0 road win in the season opener here Friday night.
West Tally starts 1-0 on the season while Palmer is 0-1.
“It was very pleasing to see that the first time we got to hit somebody else, we didn’t have any turnovers, we were in pretty good shape, we didn’t see any cramps, no injuries and we took care of the football, so it went pretty well,” said Choctaws head coach Shane Hargett.
West Tally jumped out to a 6-0 first-quarter lead by virtue of quarterback Tristian Hill, who ran a read option play for a 32-yard touchdown.
In the second period, Issac Day scored on a 10-yard sweep and Hill tacked on the two-pointer with a run to put the visitors up 14-0 at the half.
In the third quarter, the Choctaws’ Jamerrius Johnson scored on a 12-yard run and Day carried for the two-pointer to close out scoring.
The run game held a sizable yard advantage — West Tally rushed 20 times for 142 yards while Hill completed 4-of-8 passing for 76 yards — but in the passing department Hargett said Hill threw the ball “really well.”
“We had some good completions,” he noted. “We had an open-field drop that would have been a touchdown, and we had another 30-yard completion called back because one of our receivers wasn’t on the football.”
Hauling in Hill’s passes were Arlanders Stovall, with two receptions for 46 yards; Kelvin Robinson, who caught one pass for 20 yards; and Rosevelt Phillips, who snared one ball for 10 yards.
Hill led the Choctaws with five rushes for 61 yards, Day carried six times for 50 yards, Johnson recorded six totes for 25 yards and Robinson ran three times for 6 yards.
Phillips was West Tally’s leading tackler, with five solo stops, including three for a loss, and two sacks.
Robinson, Cameron Christian and Lester Westbrook had four individual tackles apiece, with Westbrook slicing into the backfield to record a loss on one play.
This week, West Tally will travel Friday to Riverside, who participated in a jamboree last week at O’Bannon.
“They looked pretty good on film,” Hargett said of Riverside. “They’ve improved since last year. They’ve got new coaches and staff. It’s going to come down to execution, turnovers and whoever plays the cleanest game.
