WC falls short, loses 3rd straight

BRANDON – For one brief, heart-stopping moment, it seemed as if Warren Central would get another chance. When the fumble ended up in the hands of a Northwest Rankin player, though, this one slipped through the Vikings’ fingers.

Northwest Rankin’s Stephen Wright ran for 139 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries, and the Cougars stopped two WC drives deep in Northwest territory in the second half to claim an 11-6 win on Friday.

Warren Central’s Carleton Davis ran for 112 yards, 84 of them in the second half.

“This is a big win. Warren Central came out like there was no tomorrow and played a really great game. They played very well on the defensive side of the ball,” said Northwest Rankin quarterback Jordan King, who completed 7 of 19 passes for 73 yards. “Our offensive line did a good job at the end. It was just a backyard brawl.”

It was an ugly offensive game for both teams. In addition to a number of dropped passes on both sides, WC (2-3, 0-1 Region 2-5A) turned the ball over three times and Northwest Rankin (5-0, 1-0) turned it over twice.

Northwest – which had scored at least 28 points in each of its first four games – also fumbled in the final minute, at the end of a long run that gave it a game-clinching first down. The Cougars recovered, though, and were able to run out the clock.

“Overall, we had a bad game. I had the fumbles, we dropped a lot of passes, linemen were missing blocks,” said Wright, who lost two fumbles in the first half. “But we did good enough to get the win.”

All of the scoring came in the second quarter. With 10:15 to play, Wright capped an 11-play Northwest drive with a 2-yard touchdown run to break a scoreless tie. The Cougars then lined up in the swinging gate formation on the extra point and took advantage of a slow-reacting WC defense for an easy two-point conversion pass from King to Wright, making it 8-0.

That was just about the only easy yardage either defense gave up. Wright fumbled on Northwest’s next possession and Warren Central’s Robert Sessums recovered at the Cougar 6-yard line. Three plays later, fullback Troy Rogers bulled his way in from the 1-yard line to cut it to 8-6.

A bobbled snap led to a failed two-point conversion run by Davis, and Northwest Rankin added a 37-yard field goal by Parker Ware on its next possession to take an 11-6 lead into halftime.

Warren Central misfired on two opportunities to take the lead in the second half.

Midway through the third quarter, WC got the ball near midfield and quickly moved inside Northwest territory. Davis fumbled at the end of a 14-yard pass play, however, giving the Cougars the ball at their own 19-yard line. After Northwest was forced to punt, Warren Central’s offense went back to work. The Vikings held the ball for more than seven minutes and converted two third downs and a fourth down to move to the Northwest 16-yard line.

The drive stalled there. Two short runs, a penalty and a dropped pass left the Vikings facing another fourth-and-long. Ryan Williams missed on a pass attempt to give the ball back to the Cougars with 6:42 to go in the game.

“When you’re inside the red zone every time and can’t put it in, you don’t deserve to win,” said WC’s Michael Robinson, who caught one pass at receiver and also broke up several passes on defense.

The Vikings forced a punt and got the ball back, but had to kick it away themselves with just under three minutes to play. They never got it back.

Northwest’s Steven Knight ran for 13 yards on third-and-8 for the first down. He fumbled at the end of the play, but Northwest recovered and ran out the clock.

“It’s hard to drive like that, and we started driving and coughed up the ball,” King said. “But that’s the kind of team we are. We bounce back from stuff like that.”

Botched kicks, turnovers spell doom for VHS

By Jeff Byrd

Vicksburg let one get away.

Two blocked extra points and five turnovers allowed Provine to get out of Memorial Stadium with a 13-12 win Friday night in the Region 2-5A opener for both teams.

The loss drops Vicksburg to 3-2 overall while Provine improves to 3-1 and takes an early lead in the region race.

VHS coach Alonzo Stevens was full of praise for his defensive unit that produced four takeaways, including what should have resulted in a game-tying score in the third quarter – before the botched extra point.

“My special teams didn’t come through tonight,” Stevens said. “I couldn’t ask for anything more from my defense. They did everything for us. They got turnovers and put us in good field position. We just didn’t play well anywhere else.”

Down 13-6 at the half, the Gator defense came up with a big play to get the deficit to one. Gator safety Gerald Mims stood up Provine tailback Anton Taylor in the hole and nose guard Ryan Walker, a Hurricane Katrina evacuee from New Orleans, came around for the strip. He then played fullback, circling around the remaining Rams for a 15-yard touchdown return.

“I saw what Mims did, and I thought, ‘Mims I love you,'” Walker said of of the play. “That’s my first touchdown. But we lost the game. They couldn’t get anything in the middle. Provine, though, is a good football team.”

Vicksburg lined up for the would-by tying point but Provine’s Terrance Handy came up the middle to block John Howard’s kick. That left the score 13-12 with 8:57 left in the quarter.

The Gator defense caused another fumble, getting a 13-yard return to the Provine 28. But the offense went nowhere and turned the ball over on downs.

VHS had a pair of golden opportunities in the fourth quarter. A 22-yard pass from Stanton Price to Vernon Wolfe got the Gators inside Rams’ territory. A 15-yard pass interference got the ball to the 33. But two Ram blitzes dropped the Gators back 10 yards and forced a punt.

The final VHS drive started on its own 27 and picked up two first downs, including a 13-yard pass to Wolfe to the Ram 43. On third down, a toss sweep to Chavous McWhorter was fumbled, resulting in the Gators’ fifth turnover on the night. Provine then ran out the final 3:42 as Taylor got the final 33 of his 156 rushing yards.

The Gators’ first miscue, a muffed punt, just three minutes into the game led to Douglas Rush’s 25-yard TD pass to William Moore.

The Gators tied it at 6-6 when Raymond Reed recovered a Ram fumble, setting up Tyler Wells’ 22-yard halfback TD pass that caromed off a Ram defender and intended target, John Patterson, and into the arms of Delmon Robinson, who dove in the end zone. Howard’s kick, however, was blocked, leaving it at 6-6 with 3:58 left in the half.

Provine came back going 80 yards in 12 plays, scoring with three seconds left on Rush’s 8-yard TD pass to Handy who beat Willis McGowan on a fade route. The Rams’ initial PAT kick went straight up in the air and was no good. The Gators, however, were offsides and on the second try, Carlos Meeks line-drived a kick through for a 13-6 halftime lead.

Vicksburg ended with just 67 net yards of offense. Price was 7-of-15 passing for 45 yards with Wolfe catching five of the balls for 40 yards.