ACKERMAN — Clarksdale High School bounced back from a 35-point home loss to South Panola with a shutout victory at Choctaw County Friday night.
The Wildcats (3-1) closed out non-district play with an 18-0 victory against the Chargers.
“It’s very important,” said Clarksdale coach Henry Johnson on his team bouncing back with a win. “I thought we didn’t play well in the first half, but we came back in the second half and kind of settled down and played some pretty good football.”
Things did not start well at the beginning for the Wildcats as Choctaw County completed a 44-yard pass on its first play from scrimmage to get to the Clarksdale 25-yard-line.
Choctaw County faced a third down and seven on the same possession, but threw two consecutive incomplete passes to turn the ball over on downs to Clarksdale.
Senior Kevious Grayson covered the Choctaw County receiver on the third down and senior Milton James had the coverage on fourth down.
Following 9- and 20-yard runs, senior running back Sammie Ray ran for a 19-yard touchdown with 3:12 remaining in the first quarter to give the Wildcats a 6-0 lead.
Clarksdale squandered two more opportunities to score in the first half as senior quarterback Tamera Allen’s pass to a wide open senior Josh Hollins was dropped past midfield on a fourth down and four. No one was in front of Hollins when he dropped the ball.
Hollins redeemed himself later in the quarter when he caught an Allen pass for more than 30 yards inside the Chargers 5. However, it was called back on a penalty as Clarksdale had an ineligible receiver down field.
Clarksdale took a 6-0 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Unlike the first half when both teams missed opportunities, Clarksdale capitalized on its scoring chances in the second half.
Allen escaped to his right and threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to senior DK Bays with 6:40 remaining in the third quarter to put Clarksdale ahead 12-0.
Senior De’meric Strong recovered a fumble setting up a Bays 9-yard touchdown run with 8:55 remaining in the contest. It was Bays’ second touchdown of the night extending Clarksdale’s lead to 18-0.
Allen came out of the game in the first half last week against South Panola with an injury and junior Martez Williams finished the game.
At the conclusion of the South Panola game, Johnson ruled Allen questionable for the Choctaw County matchup. Following the matchup against the Chargers, Johnson was pleased with Allen’s performance.
“He threw the ball well tonight,” Johnson said. “He had a couple of drops in the first half that I thought we should have scored on, but I thought he threw the ball well.”
Senior DeMarius Riley had a sack for Clarksdale late in the contest.
Johnson’s biggest concern after the game was special teams.
Hollins missed both of his extra point attempts. Clarksdale attempted to go for a 2-point conversion following the touchdown pass to Bays. Allen rolled out to his left and slipped shy of the end zone.
“We can’t make an extra point,” Johnson said. “We’ve got to do that. That could be the difference in the ballgame.”
Overall, Johnson was pleased with his team’s performance.
“Anytime you can get a shutout win, it was great,” he said.
Clarksdale has one Region 3-4A game this season and that is at 7 p.m. Friday at Yazoo City. The winner is the district champion. The loser still hosts a playoff game, but is the No. 2 seed instead of 1.
“It’s very important,” said Johnson of the upcoming game Friday night. “We’ve got to click. We’ve got to go win our district and get a No. 1 seed. Then that’s all we can worry about.”
Johnson did acknowledge even though Clarksdale is 3-1, there is plenty of room for improvement.
“We’re not ready,” Johnson said. “We only had two weeks of practice to start the season and we’ve played four ballgames. We’re just happy to be 3-1 at this point. We just have to keep coming to practice and working hard.
“I feel like we’ve got work to do, but we’re happy to be 3-1, but we’ve got a lot of work to do to win a state championship. No doubt about it.”
Following the Yazoo City matchup, Clarksdale has three consecutive weeks off on the schedule. Those were all originally intended to be district games, but Rosa Fort, Greenwood and Gentry high schools all canceled their seasons.
After Friday night, the next game on the schedule is at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31 when Trinity Christian-Cedar Hill from Texas comes to town. Deion Sanders is finishing the year as Trinity Christian-Cedar Hill offensive coordinator before beginning his duties as Jackson State head coach. His son, Shedeur Sanders, is the quarterback.
Johnson said Clarksdale may add other games to the schedule between Friday night and Oct. 31. He specifically said it is a possibility Clarksdale will play Briarcrest Christian School out of Eads, Tenn. on Oct. 16.
