Visitors strike quickly

Visitors strike quickly 10/11/2008 6:25:58 AM Daily Journal

BY CHRIS RUSHING
Special to the Journal

SALTILLO - Much like the script for the entire season thus far, not much went right for the Saltillo Tigers on homecoming.

Sophomore Ken Morrow scored twice, once by ground and once by air, to lead Pontotoc (4-3, 2-1 Division 1-4A) to its second straight victory, this one by a final of 34-6. Meanwhile, Saltillo (0-7, 0-4) remains in search of its first triumph on the 2008 campaign after another division loss.

"We ran the ball well tonight, but we did it in 5-, 6- and 7-yard spurts," said Pontotoc coach Charlie Dampeer, whose team has outscored their opponents 85-12 the last two weeks. "We haven't hit a big play in a couple of weeks, and we are going to need that down the road. I don't think we're clicking on offense like we were before."

After the first two opening kickoff attempts trickled out of bounds, Pontotoc junior Ryan Thompson glided down the field and returned the opening kick 75 yards to paydirt.

Pontotoc's special teams and run game paved the way for a 21-0 halftime lead, while the host Tigers got off just 20 snaps. Five of those plays were for negative yardage, and the team was penalized four times for another loss of 20.

Mistakes "have been the story all year," Saltillo second-year head coach Greg May said. "We have a lot of young kids, but we have to grow up sooner or later. Pontotoc is a good football team that's well-coached. We don't want to take anything away from them, but you sure can't spot them those points like we did and expect to be successful."

Morrow helped spoil the homecoming festivities further as he extended the Pontotoc lead to 14-0 with 10 minutes, 43 seconds remaining in the second period. Morrow capped a 13-play, 64-yard series as he dashed left then cut straight ahead, breaking four tackles, on his 10-yard rush.

Where's the snap?

The Tigers hurt themselves further late in the second quarter after an errant snap sailed over Drew Chisholm's head and was finally recovered at the Tigers' 21. Pontotoc signal-caller Candan Dallas put the finishing touches on the five-play drive when he spun into the end zone on a 6-yard carry with 3:30 remaining in the half.

Chisholm got Saltillo on the board by outracing the Pontotoc defensive ends to the corner of the end zone from 3 yards out. The sophomore signal caller's scamper wrapped up a 15-play drive that traveled 72 yards over the span of 8:23. The Tigers converted two fourth downs in the series.

Just over four minutes later, Dallas zinged a bullet to Morrow, who managed to slip behind his defensive counterpart and raced into the end zone unscathed from the 10 to complete the 38-yard strike and wrap the scoring for both teams.

Box score:
Pontotoc 34, Saltillo 6

Pontotoc 7 14 6 7 - 34
Saltillo 0 0 6 0 - 6

First Quarter
PHS – Ryan Thompson 75 kick return (Michael Bounds kick), 11:49

Second Quarter
PHS – Ken Morrow 10 rush (Bounds kick), 10:43
PHS – Candan Dallas 6 rush (Bounds kick), 3:30

Third Quarter
PHS – C.J. Dillard 35 pass from Dallas (kick failed), 9:39
SHS – Drew Chism 3 rush (kick failed), 1:12

Fourth Quarter
PHS – Morrow 38 pass from Dallas (Bounds kick), 9:22
Records: Pontotoc 4-3 (2-1), Saltillo 0-7 (0-4)

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Another 40-plus for Deen, Dogs roll

Another 40-plus for Deen, Dogs roll

by Chris Rushing

HOUSTON – Senior quarterback Marcus Hinton left little room for doubt in the first half as to who the No. 1 team in Northeast Mississippi was.

Hinton completed 11-of-18 with four touchdown tosses, three to classmate Tevin Blanchard, in the opening 24 minutes of Aberdeen’s 47-26 triumph over Houston Friday night in a Division 2-3A tussle.

“I thought we played well offensively the entire game, and our defense set a tone by stopping them on their first couple of drives,” Aberdeen coach Chris Duncan said. “Whenever you go up 20-0, you have a pretty good advantage. I felt like they were going to run right at us from the start, and we were able to control that which should help us down the road.”

His team remained undefeated 6-0, 2-0 in division, with the victory.

The hometown Hilltoppers (1-5, 1-2) responded to a 20-0 first quarter deficit in grand fashion, trading blows with the Bulldogs throughout the second quarter and coming within 14 twice of the top-ranked visitors. Reggie Buchanan refused to go down on first contact and notched a pair of rushing touchdowns on gains of 8 and 18 yards.

“Our kids played hard and didn't quit,” Houston coach Buz Boyer said. “We just couldn't deal with their speed. Speed kills, and it got us tonight.”

Meanwhile, the Bulldogs' junior tailback Jemerson Love was not to be outdone by his counterpart in Buchanan.

Following Buchanan's first score, Love received Jacob Long's kick and bounced from left-to-right, breaking a pair of tackles in the process as he raced to pay dirt and extended the Bulldogs' lead back to three scores at 33-12 with 10 minutes, 48 seconds left in the half.

While the first half belonged to Hinton and the air game, Love and understudy Brandon Smith owned the third quarter. After barreling through the line for an 11-yard gain on the first play of the third quarter, Love used the near sideline then darted back across the gridiron. Fifty-two yards later, he had his third touchdown on the night and the Bulldogs had reached their season average of points.

Smith took over for Love and racked up 54 yards on Aberdeen's second possession of the period before being stopped short of the first down marker inside the Hilltopper 10.

The Hilltoppers were opportunistic for their other two scores. Malcolm Stanfield recovered an errant snap in the end zone with 11:02 left in the second quarter to get the home team on the scoreboard. Corey Voyles capped the scoring with a 3-yard scamper with 2:41 remaining in the game.

Buchanan had 142 yards on 21 carries to pace Houston. On the other side, six different Bulldogs caught passes from Hinton (12-of-20, 216 yards) led by Blanchard with four totaling 78 yards. Love gained 139 ground yards on just six carries.

“Marcus has been doing this all season, and he's done a great job of leading our offense,” Duncan added.

“As long as he keeps his head on straight, I know we're in good hands. We haven't had to run Jemerson a lot so far this year, but we will have to give him the ball more down the road.”

Box score:

Aberdeen 47, Houston 26
Aberdeen 20 20 7 0 - 47
Houston 0 19 0 7 - 26

First Quarter
AHS – Tevin Blanchard 30 pass from Marcus Hinton (Antonio Crayton kick), 8:48
AHS – Jamerson Love 48 rush (Crayton kick), 3:34
AHS – Rashad Pargo 8 pass from Hinton (kick failed), 0:21

Second Quarter
HHS – Malcolm Stanfield fumble recovery (kick failed), 11:02
AHS – Love 82 kick return (Crayton kick), 10:48
HHS – Reggie Buchanan 8 rush (kick failed), 7:43
AHS – Blanchard 7 pass from Hinton (kick failed), 4:05
HHS – Buchanan 18 rush (Jacob Long kick), 1:05
AHS – Blanchard 11 pass from Hinton (Crayton kick), 0:00

Third Quarter
AHS – Love 52 rush (Crayton kick), 11:23

Fourth Quarter
HHS – Corey Voyles 3 rush (Long kick), 2:41
Records: Aberdeen 6-0 (2-0), Houston 1-5 (1-2)

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