Much like last week, Nanih Waiya fell victim to an athletic football team.
Philadelphia scored 20 unanswered points in the first half and pulled away to take a 40-16 win over the Warriors on Thursday night.
The Warriors fall to 2-4 overall and 0-2 in Division 5-2A play. They will return to action this week as they host Pelahatchie in a non-division contest.
Much like last week, the Warriors struggled on defense with a much faster Philadelphia offense.
“They are loaded with skill and have good speed,” Courtney said. “Not many of their guys play both ways and their depth wore on us. I thought our guys played a good first half, we just have to put it all together. I thought there were couple of things that we could have done better and it could have been a lot closer. They run the zone really well and the running back gets on you pretty quick. He’s one of the best running backs we have seen. I thought we did a great job of bottling him up in the first half. We just ran out of gas and bodies in the second half.”
The Tornadoes got the ball to open the game and put together a 14-play, 56-yard drive that ended on a 3-yard touchdown run with 8:07 left in the first quarter. The PAT was good and Philly led 7-0, a score that held through the first quarter.
The Tornadoes didn’t score again until the second quarter when Chancellor Greer scored on a 49-yard touchdown run with 9:14 left in the second quarter. The PAT was good and Philly led 14-0.
The Warriors answered right back on the ensuing drive as Rico Moore scored on a 50-yard run with 8:55 left in the first half. Keon Sanders ran in the two-point conversion and Philadelphia led 14-8.
The Warriors rolled the dice late in the second quarter when they went for a fake punt deep in their own territory. But the gamble failed and the Tornadoes took over at the Nanih Waiya 23.. Three plays later Greer scored on a 5-yard run with 3:52 left in the half. The PAT failed and the Warriors led 20-8.
Nanih Waiya put together an 11-play drive before the half but failed to score as they turned the ball over on downs with 39 seconds left in the half.
“After watching them on film, we really thought we could get them with the fake punt,” Courtney said. “If we block out like we were supposed to, we are still running. But that’s the way it is. Even with that, we still had our chances. But that one’s one me. I guess I should have punted.”
The Warriors got the ball to start the second half and went 57 yards in three plays as Moore scored on a 46-yard run with 10:43 left in the third quarter. Moore ran in the two-point conversion and the Warriors pulled within 20-16.
But that was as close as the Warriors got as the Tornadoes cranked the running game up as Greer scored three second-half touchdowns on runs of 40, 51 and 3 yards.
“The injuries just piled up for us in the second half,” Courtney said. “We lost our quarterback in the third quarter and lost No. 5 again and had another starter go down. We are just so depleted. That’s six starters we were without at the end of the game. But it is what it is. But a lot of credit goes to Philadelphia. They run the ball hard and get after you."
The Warriors weren’t bad on offense, despite losing quarterback Tanner Courtney in the third quarter with an injury. The Warriors had 284 yards of total offense with 221 rushing and 63 passing.
Rico Moore led the rushing attack with 177 yards on 33 carries while Kendon Sanders had 25 yards on five carries. Courtney rushed for 15 yards oh six carries and was 2-of-7 passing for 19 yards. Moore filled in at quarterback for Courtney and was 2-of-5 passing for 55 yards. Hagan Halfacre had one catch for 39 yards while Mason Jones had two catches for 19 yards.
Philadelphia had 295 yards rushing and 27 passing for for 322 yards of total offense.
This week’s game
The Warriors will get a break from division play this week as they take on Pelahatchie and former coach Ryan Keeton, whom Courtney coached with at Bruce and Nanih Waiya.
The Chiefs are 2-5 on the season with wins over Florence (45-40) and Lake (33-7). They have losses to Copiah Academy (42-7), Charleston (36-8), Morton (34-18), Velma Jackson (41-20) and Scott Central (52-0).
“Coach Keeton and I are good buddies,” Courtney said. “We coached together at Bruce and here at Nanih Waiya. I think he has a really good team, he’s just played a rough schedule. Like everybody we play, they can run and have good athletes all over the field. The quarterback is a really good player and can go. He hasn’t had him all of the year. He’s been hurt and of course, he’s healthy now and will play against us. It will be a tough game for us.”
