The Noxapater Tigers went into halftime leading Vardaman 6-0 on Friday night but that didn’t mean that coach Casey Orr was that happy.
A sloppy first half cost the Tigers at least two touchdowns. But the Tigers regrouped at halftime and pulled away for a 26-0 win over the Rams.
The Tigers improve to 10-1 on the season and are 7-0 in 3-1A play. The Tigers will host arch rival Nanih Waiya on Thursday night at 7 p.m. with the winner taking the division championship.
Despite the win, Orr saw plenty of room for improvement.
“In the first half, we turned it over twice inside the 10 and didn’t score on another possession,” Orr said. “We weren’t real crisp on offense. I felt like we left 14 or 21 points on the field. We only punted once in the game so it seemed like we should have had more points. It was wet and rained right up until kickoff. But we have get past that and protect the football.”
Vardaman got the ball to open the game and ran nine plays before the Tigers forced a punt. Defensive lineman Ryan Whitfield blocked the punt to give the Tigers the ball a the Vardaman 42. But seven plays later, K.D. Carter fumbled at the Vardaman 8 to end the scoring threat.
After a short Vardaman punt, the Tigers got the ball at the Ram 21. The Tigers scored twice but had both call back because of penalties and eventually turned the ball over on down.
After another Vardaman punt, the Tigers finally got on the bod as Joshua McClendon scored on an 8-yard run . The two-point conversion attempt failed and Noxapater led 6-0 at the half.
“I thought we played really well on defense,” Orr said. “We had two of our best defensive linemen out and still managed to have a shutout. I think they ended up with 75 yards of offense and about 30 of that was on a blown assignment. I thought they played really well.”
The Tigers got the ball to start the second half and promptly marched 80 yards in nine plays as Carter scored on a 1-yard run. Raheem Hathorn ran in the two-point conversion and Noxapater led 14-0.
The Tigers added two more scores in the fourth quarter to extend the lead. The first was a 50-yard touchdown pass from Carter to Riley Jones on the second play of the fourth. The two-point try failed and Noxapater led 20-0.
The last score came late in the fourth when the Tigers defense turned Vardaman over on downs at their own 23. Four plays later, McClendon scored on a 1-yard run to give the Tigers a 26-0 lead.
The Tigers had 375 yards of total offense with 325 rushing and 50 passing. Carter led the offense with 120 yards rushing on 17 carries while McClendon had 107 yards rushing on 16 carries and two TDs. Raheem Hathorn had 75 yards on 10 carries while Chase Ray had 18 yards on six carries. Carter was 1-of-3 passing for 50 yards with Riley Jones hauling in the lone pass for a touchdown.
“You can’t get on the backs, they ran the ball hard,” Orr said. “Most of the time when they fumbled, they were fighting for extra yardage. We can’t put it on the ground and expect to beat good teams. Turnovers, especially inside the 10, will get you beat against good teams.”
On defense, McClendon led the way with eight tackles, including three for a loss. Ray had three solo tackles and two assists with one sack and three tackles for loss. Hathorn had four solo tackles and one assist while Hunter Johnson had three solo tackles, one fumble recovery and one interception. Kyler Carter and Jarin Lewis each had two solo tackles and two assists while 68 had two tackles for loss and a sack. Ryan Whitfield had one blocked punt and caused a fumble.
