Despite leading 20-0 at the half, Nanih Waiya coach James Courtney felt like his team was trailing.
The Warriors responded at the half by scoring on their first four possessions of the half and beat visiting Resurrection Catholic 48-0 on Friday night in the first round of the Class 1A playoffs.
Nanih Waiya improves to 12-1 on the season and will host Stringer on Friday night.
“They were shading to our strong side and were pretty good on the defensive line,” Courtney said. “We had to figure out what they were doing and how they were lining up. We came in at halftime and made the adjustments and blocked a lot better in the second half.”
Resurrection got the ball to start the game and NW got a fumble recovery from Coley Taylor. Two plays later, Shia Moore scored on a 14-yard touchdown run. Jake Kight’s PAT was good and Nanih Waiya led 7-0.
The Warriors next score came via the kicking game as Austin Sanders returned a punt 60 yards for a touchdown. The PAT failed and Nanih Waiya led 13-0 early in the second quarter.
The Warriors added one more score in the first half as Moore scored on a 28-yard touchdown run with 4:58 left in the first half. Kight’s PAT was good and the Warriors led 20-0 a the half.
“It felt a lot closer than 20-0,” Courtney said. “We weren’t happy at all at halftime. It was much closer than 20-0. We felt like we weren’t playing like we were expecting to play. We knew they were tough and really well coached and would get after it but we still weren’t happy about the way we played.”
The Warriors got the ball to start the second half and went 81 yards in just three plays with Donovan Turner hitting Deon Hickman on a 17-yard touchdown with 11:04 left in the third. Kight’s PAT was good and the Warriors led 27-0.
After a three-and-out by Resurrection, the Warriors went 50 yards in just two plays as Moore scored on a 27-yard touchdown. Kight’s PAT made the score 34-0.
The Warriors added two more scores in the fourth quarter as Sanders scored on a 26-yard run and Donovan Turner scored on a 38-yard run.
The Warriors had 371 yards of total offense with 294 rushing and 67 passing. Donovan Turner was 4-of-6 passing for 69 yards with one TD. Coley Taylor and Devean Turner each had one catch for 21 yards while Deon Hickman had one catch for 17 yards while Knight had one catch for 8 yards. Moore led the rushing attack with 159 yards on 10 carries while Donovan Turner had 83 yards on eight carries. Austin Sanders had 47 yards on three carries.
On defense, Moore led the Warriors had nine tackles while Dewonta Carter and Coley Taylor each had seven tackles. Sanders and Devean Turner each had four tackles while Dawson Eaves, Tyree McClendon, Deon Hickman, Kyle Holdiness and Blake Sheets each had two tackles apiece. Sheets had two sacks while Carter had two tackles for loss and Tyell Triplett had an interception.
The Warriors will host Stringer this week in the Class 1A South State semifinals.
The Red Devils are 11-2 on the season with losses to Bay Springs (39-6) in the season opener and Lumberton (7-0). They have wins over Clarkdale (45-0), Enterprise (33-18), Mize (46-7), Loyd Star (41-21), West Lincoln (53-7), Resurrection (30-0), Mount Olive (49-6), Salem (54-0), East Marion (30-18), Sacred Heart (48-16) and French Camp (15-0).
The Red Devils have outscored opponents 450-139.
“They are really good, especially on defense,” Courtney said. “They run a 5-2 on defense and have two really good inside linebackers. Offensively, they have a couple of big wide receivers and a quarterback who can get it to those guys. And I think they have arguably one of the best running backs in Class 1A. We are expecting a battle, that’s for sure.”
Senior Anthony Thomas leads the Red Devils’ rushing attack with 1,681 yards on 145 carries with 20 TDs. Senior quarterback Cayleb Dyess was 66-of-145 passing for 1,152 yards with 16 TDs.
