When Noxapater’s JyKavius Riddle is an old man, he will sit around and tell his kids and grandkids about the night he played Okolona.
Riddle had a career night with 303 yards rushing and five touchdowns as he took snaps at quarterback and led the Tigers to a 56-6 win over the Chieftains.
Noxapater improves to 2-2 on the season and will play at 2-2 Eupora this week.
When quarterback Luke Sanborn was ruled out with an injury, Noxapater coach Caleb Kelly put Riddle taking the snaps. It turned out to be a good decision.
“For the most part, we had a great night up front,” Kelly said. “Our offensive and defensive lines did a great job in the trenches. We had a quarterback role change due to an injury so we had to lean heavy on the run game. From here on out, we are going to depend on the run, especially with the success that we had. In ways, I think it works better for us. If you can run the ball 1A, you will win a lot of games. You get an extra blocker in the backfield. It’s like stealing at times.”
Noxapater turned the ball over on downs on its first possession before Riddle scored on a 5-yard run on the Tigers second drive. The try for two failed and Noxapater led 6-0.
Okolona made it tight for few minutes when they hit a 69-yard pass play to tie the game at 6-6.
But it was all Noxapater from there. The Tigers responded with a five-play, 80-yard drive as Riddle scored on a 10-yard run. Riddle ran in the two-point conversion and the Tigers led 14-6.
The Noxapater defense then got in on the scoring when A.J. Robertson intercepted an Okolona pass and returned it 17 yards for a touchdown. Riddle ran in the two-point conversion and the Tigers led 22-6.
From there, the Tigers added two more scores in the first half as Riddle scored on a 45-yard run and Camerion Pankey scored on a 30-yard run as the Noxapater led 37-6 at the half.
“They only had one or two big plays and their touchdown was on a tipped pass,” Kelly said. “After that, we shut them down. We forced three turnovers and haven’t done that all year. When you can force turnovers and score on defense, it’s a huge bonus. We created the turnovers tonight instead of giving them up.”
The Tigers continued to add to the score in the second half as Riddle scored on runs of 37 and 92 yards while Demarcus McCully scored on a 44-yard run for the final margin of 56-6.
Noxapater had a 514 yards rushing as Riddle finished with 303 yards on 18 carries. A.J. Robertson had 84 yards on five carries while Camerion Pankey had 75 yards on five carries. Demarkus McCully had 51 yards on two carries.
“I thought JyKavius did a great job running the offense,” Kelly said. “He came in on Monday and took her and took command of the offense. He played with a lot of composure and did what we asked him to do. And the offensive line executed really well.”
On defense, Vontavious Triplett and T.K. Wilson each had eight tackles apiece while J.J. Miller had six tackles. Riddle, Pankey and McCully each had three tackles apiece. Robertson also had an interception while Riddle and Kam Lewis each had a fumble recovery.
This week’s game
The Tigers will hit the road this week as they play at Eupora.
The Eagles are 2-2 on the season with wins over French Camp (40-6) and Okolona (24-14). They also have losses to East Webster (35-6) and Water Valley (48-46).
“Eupora does a good job of getting to the football on defense,” Kelly said. “They will be in an odd-man front and I think they are pretty good in the secondary. Again, we are going to lean hard on the running game. They key for us will be to stop No. 4 for them. If we wrap up and tackle, we will be fine.”
