Noxapater head football coach Casey Orr knew his team was going to be in for a challenge when it played host to Region 2-1A foe West Lowndes on Friday night. He was also convinced his Tigers were talented enough to take care of the situation. He was right.
Noxapater put together a 382-yard rushing attack on the way to a solid 31-16 win of the Panthers, putting the Tigers in the driver’s seat in the race to finish second in the region. That’s important because the top two teams host first-round games when the MHSAA 1A State Football Playoffs begin in November.
But Orr also knows his team has some work ahead of it, beginning with a home game against winless Ethel on Friday night.
“It’s a bad time of the year to throttle back and to take your foot off the (gas) pedal. You you have to make sure everybody is still playing hard and doing their jobs,” he said.
“Our guys have got to understand how important it is (to close out the regular season well),” Orr said. “We discuss this. Your opponents are faceless. It doesn’t matter who you are playing, It's about getting better as far as what we do and as far as (running) our schemes.”
K.D. Carter rushed for 224 yards and three touchdowns on 22 carries for the Tigers in the win over West Lowndes, while Raheem Hathorn had 145 yards and two scores on 22 carries. Hathorn was also a monster defensively, recorded 14 tackles, forcing a fumble and breaking up two passes.
“He probably played the best game I’ve ever seen him play,” Orr said of Hathorn’s performance. “He was a one-man wrecking crew. He just had a physical style of play.”
Although West Lowndes did score early, Noxapater moved out o a 19-8 lead just before the half and had a chance to score again.
“That was the one negative. We had multiple opportunities to go up by three scores and didn’t do it,” Orr said. “We need to learn to put teams away.”
After finally going up 25-8 midway in the second half, the Tigers gave up a touchdown and two-point conversion to allow West Lowndes to trim the lead to 25-16, before finally adding the clinching touchdown.
After hosting Ethel Friday the 7-2 Tigers — who are 5-1 in Region 2-1A play — will travel to Hamilton on Nov. 1 and host Vardaman on Nov. 8 before the playoffs begin the following week.
