The Warriors of Nanih Waiya fought off a second-half challenge from a talented West Lowndes team to take a 39-24 home win on Friday night, notching it’s 51st connective region victory in the process. The win pushes Nanih Waiya to 3-0 overall on the year and 2-0 in Region 3-1A play with a big league road game looming on Friday at French Camp Academy. “It doesn’t get any easier,” NW head coach James Courtney said of playing French Camp. “They are well coached and play hard. They will be ready for us.” The Warriors used its vaunted running game to take control of things early in the game, leading 27-6 at the half, and 33-6 midway in the third quarter before the momentum shifted dramatically. After West Lowndes had scored on a 5-yard run to cut it to 33-12, they were driving again when one of their players was shaken up in the end zone on an incomplete fourth-down pass and was taken from the field in an ambulance. The player was treated at the hospital and later released. But at the time, it took the air out of the game, especially on the Nanih Waiya sideline. “That kind of thing obviously shakes everybody up,” Courtney said. “Nobody likes to see a kid get hurt. It affected us in a negative way and fired them up.” After getting the ball back, West Lowndes scored on a 7-yard run midway in the third quarter to make it 33-18 before following that up with a 55-yard touchdown pass to cut it to 33-24 with 2:11 left to play. The pass for the two-point conversion, in an effort to make it a 7-point game, fell incomplete. Nanih Waiya responded on its next drive, with running back Austin Sanders scoring on a direct snap on a 39-yard run with 1:04 left to play to put the game away. “When we need him and called on him he went in and hit a home run for us,” Courtney said. Ked Moore made a trio of big plays for NW during the game as well, picking off a pass in the end zone when the game was still scoreless in the first quarter, grabbing a 22 yard pass on third and long to set up Nanih Waiya’s first touchdown — a 5-yard run on fourth and one by Tyquan McCully — and hauling in a 28 yard pass on a nice throw by Tanner Courtney for a touchdown late in the first half. “We were able to throw it when we could protect,” coach Courtney said. “We made some good plays in the passing game. We have to get better in that capacity. We were able to complete a few that loosened some things for us early.” The other NW touchdowns came on a 13-yard run by McCully, a 1-yard run by Sanders and a 23-yard run by J.R. Coleman. While the Warriors did give up 206 passing yards to West Lowndes, the coverage was clearly better. “We were in good shape, we just have to make a play on the ball,” he said “We will get better in that capacity covering. It’s the hardest position to play on the field,” he said referring to defensive back. Sanders and McCully both rushed for more than 100 yards in the game for Nanih Waiya.
