GREENVILLE — The West Tallahatchie Choctaws spent three straight quarters facing the south end of the playing field, and the O’Bannon Greenwaves recorded a 24-0 shutout win here Friday night, Sept. 1.
O’Bannon improved to 2-0 while West Tally fell to 1-1.
Choctaws head coach Shane Hargett said one officiating decision helped to derail his team, and he has petitioned the Mississippi High School Activities Association for a no-contest ruling on the non-region game.
Hargett noted that West Tally faced fourth down at O’Bannon’s 35-yard line, moving south, with seconds left in the opening period. The Chocs’ pass fell incomplete and the buzzer sounded on a scoreless first quarter.
“We had the momentum. It was nothing-nothing and they couldn’t do anything on us. We were actually moving the football,” the coach said.
Then, it happened.
The officiating crew, Hargett said, correctly placed the ball on the 35-yard line at the opposite end of the field for the start of the second quarter. But that was all they got right.
“The teams were not allowed to swap sides, to change the direction they were going,” he noted.
Instead of O’Bannon being backed up near their own end zone with 65 open yards in front of them, they lined up at West Tally’s 35, Hargett said.
“I’m sitting there throwing a fit the whole time,” he noted, explaining that he questioned the officials, to no avail.
Hargett said the officials huddled but would not change their decision. He noted they later admitted their mistake at halftime.
“I’ve never seen that happen before,” said Hargett. “I’ve never even heard of it happening before.”
“First play, O’Bannon scores. And my kids, they go to pieces,” Hargett said. ... “We just fell apart after that. We spent most of the rest of the half and the second half calming folks down. ... It was just a debacle. ... We were rendered pretty much inept after that.”
The game film was sent to MHSAA for review, and Hargett said he was told that the officiating crew involved will be sidelined — not allowed to call a game — for three weeks due to the incident.
“That’s good to know, but it doesn’t help us any,” he said.
Hargett said his team played a “really, really sloppy ballgame” after the incident.
“We turned the football over five times after that. It’s hard to win when you turn the ball over four times on offense and have a muffed punt on special teams.”
Hargett added, “It’s a game we should have won, could have won, and if we played it 10 times we’d probably win eight of them.”
This week, the Choctaws host the 1-1 Coahoma County Red Panthers, fresh off an 18-0 loss to Clarksdale.
Hargett said Coahoma is “much improved from last year.” They defeated Edwards (Ruleville) 26-6 in the season opener Aug. 25.
“We will try to protect the football, play clean football and, hopefully, come out on top,” the coach added.
