A lot of thoughts raced through Noxapater head football coach Casey Orr’s mind as he reflected upon his Tigers’ 35-33 overtime win over host Tupelo Prep Christian School last Friday night.
He thought about how his team gave up a 21-0 lead and how Tupelo Christian scored to tie the game with no time on the clock and send it to overtime. But he also found great pleasure in the way his team responded to that adversity and battled back to win.
He took note of Ryan Whitfield’s two blocked extra point attempts, including one in overtime after TPCS scored first. And then there was the heroic effort of Raheem Hathorn who rushed for 211 yards and three touchdowns, including the 10-yard jaunt that tied the game in OT.
Then there was quarterback K.D. Carter’s decision to run the play in the opposite direction it was called, leading him to waltz in with the winning two-point conversion.
“I was proud of our seniors,” Orr said. “When you lose the lead like that on the last play of the game it can really hurt your momentum and body language. But they just keep playing.”
Noxapater led 14-0 after one quarter and 21-6 at the half, before TPCS cut it to 21-19. The Tigers then stretched it out to 27-19 only to have Tupelo come back to tie the game.
“They scored with not time on the clock because of a pass interference and a late hit call gave them two untimed downs,” Orr said. “They scored on their third chance.”
Whitfield had blocked an extra point attempt late in the first half and repeated the feat after the Eagles had scored to go up 33-27.
“Whether they made the the kick or not I had decided we were going for two points,” Orr said. “They hadn’t stopped us running the ball all night.”
When the TPCS defense heavily loaded their defense to one side of the ball, Carter just took the snap and ran around the other end for the score. “It was a heads up play on his part,” Orr said. “There wasn’t anybody there to stop him.”
Hathorn, who had been battling injures, had a big night, which Orr says takes some of the pressure off of Carter. Hathorn scored on runs of 1, 6 and 10 yards. Chase Ray had a 2-yard run to go with 59 yards on nine rushing attempts, while K.D. Carter rushed for 152 yards on 15 tries and scored on a 22-yard run.
The Tigers didn’t attempt a pass all night. D.J. Kelly knocked through three extra point kicks on the night.
Carter recorded seven tackles, including a sack, while breaking up two passes for the Tigers. Caleb Ellingburg had recorded six tackles, while Whitfield had five tackles, including a pair of sacks and a forced fumble. Hathorn and Jim Graham were also in on five tackles. While Lane Bailey forced a fumble and Kyle Phillips and Hathorn broke up a pass.
The Tigers return to action at home on Thursday night when they host Nanih Waiya at 7 p.m.
