The playoffs is not a good time for a high school football team to slack up. That wasn’t a problem for the homestanding Warriors of Nanih Waiya High School as the scored four touchdown in the first quarter and three more in the second on the way to a convincing 56-14 win over Coldwater in the first round of the MHSAA Class 1A State Football playoffs Friday night.
NW head football coach James Courtney is hoping for more of the same when his team plays host to Baldwyn on Friday night at 7. The winner will take on the Noxapater-Biggersville winner for the 1A North State championship the following week.
“We played well,” Courtney said of his team’s performance against Coldwater. “I talked about it all week, wanting them to play their best game regardless of who they played.”
He said the Warriors did give up a couple big pass plays late in the game, but that he wasn’t going to keep his starters in just to preserve a shutout. He did say, however, that defending the pass was a place his team definitely needed to improve.
“We have got to get better back there,” he said. “We are going to do some different things out to help ourselves out like we have before.”
One of the things NW may deploy is a three-man front that allows the defense to aid in pass protection and bring the pass rush from different places on the field.
He noted that football has changed and that a team may face different types of offenses throughout the year. “That’s just modern football. You have to be prepared.”
Devean scored on a pair of 3-yard touchdown runs early for NW and Jake Vick knocked through the first two of his eight successful point after attempts to give the winners a quick 14-0 lead. That grew to 28-0 after one quarter of play after Austin Sanders broke loose for a 45-yard touchdown run and Tylan Glass followed that up with a 37-yarder of his own
The second quarter saw Donovan Turner score on a 7-yard run, Dawson Eaves get into the end zone from 1-yard tout and back-up quarterback Tanner Courtney hit Taylor Higginbotham with a 21-yard scoring pass.
Coldwater scored a pair of second half touchdowns, while Scott Ferguson caught an 18-yard scoring toss from Courtney for the Warriors.
Sanders led the NW rushing attack with 102 yards on three carries, while Bryce Woodruff had eight carries for 74 yards and Devean Turner six totes for 55 yards. Higginbotham led the Nanih Waiya defense with seven stops.
Baldwyn advanced to the second round with a 20-17 win over Tupelo Christian last week. The 8-4 Bearcats’ losses were to Biggersville, Nettleton, Booneville, and Kossuth. They lost the first three games of the year before winning eight of the last nine.
Courtney said one of the players his team has to keep tabs on Friday night is senior wide receiver, defensive back Jacolby Williams. He has 53 catches on the season for 1,154 yards.
