TALLULAH — It was largely the Luke Moberly show early in Tallulah Academy’s 52-12 win over Riverdale on Friday.

The eighth-grade quarterback called his own number for a 25-yard touchdown run early in the first quarter, and followed it up with a 60-yard punt return TD. A two-point conversion punched in by sophomore J.T. McDaniel put the Trojans up 14-0 en route to the dominant win in front of their home crowd.

Tallulah controlled the clock in the first half, finding the end zone four times on the ground. McDaniel scored from 7 and 29 yards out, and Cooper Ellerbee tacked on a 38-yard touchdown to give Tallulah a 38-0 halftime lead.
Moberly also accounted for two-point conversions both on the ground and through the air, connecting twice with Denton Ray.

But the first half wasn’t without moments of concern for the Trojans. Moberly’s second punt return touchdown was called back because of a holding penalty, and a pass over the middle to McDaniel was fumbled on the 1-yard line and recovered by the Rebels.

The Trojans return only three seniors for 2024 and head coach Bart Wood said the youth of his squad can be both a strength and a weakness.

“We have such a young team and it’s a lot of mental, little bitty mistakes that we can improve on,” Wood said. “But for us to be 2-0, as young as we are, there are so many kids that haven’t seen the field in two years.”
The Trojans’ offense showed some versatility in the second half, taking to the air for a 53-yard touchdown strike from Moberly to Charlie Vining. Ellerbee added a second score, trotting in from 3 yards out, to cap the Trojans’ scoring.

Despite only allowing 12 points, the Trojans’ defense gave up big plays to Riverdale’s mobile quarterback Kaidyn Wiliams, who ran for two touchdowns.

Wood said his team will take stock of its mistakes before heading to Franklin Academy for a Week 3 road test next Friday.

“Franklin should have a real good team, but some of their boys left,” Wood said. “So, they’re going to be competitive. We’re trying to improve. We’re so young and we’re running a totally different offense than we’ve been running. So, it’s just learning and I’m proud of them.”