MABEN — Adam Lowrey and the West Oktibbeha County High School football can wonder what if as they watch the tape of their 36-16 loss to Eupora on Thursday night.
Lowrey and the Timberwolves can imagine how things would have played out differently if quarterback Von Smith had not thrown an interception on the team”s second play of the game. Eupora capitalized on the short field to take a 7-0 lead.
Lowrey also can wonder how the Timberwolves would have looked sharper and would have been more dangerous if Shun Fair didn”t suffer a high ankle sprain in the second quarter and missed the rest of the game.
Both of those ingredients coupled with a Eupora rushing attack that pounded West Oktibbeha 53 times for 277 yards were too much for the Timberwolves to overcome.
As a result, Lowrey was left to contemplate how his team, which entered the game ranked No. 3 in the state in Class 1A would recover from an ego-busting loss to its Webster County neighbor.
“We”ll see,” Lowrey said when asked how he thought his team would respond to the loss. “I think they will be fine, but we”ll see. Next week (against Class 1A rival Nanih Waiya) is a big challenge.”
Little went right for West Oktibbeha. The team”s vaunted passing attack barely got off the ground. Smith (7 of 16, 87 yards, one touchdown) had little time to sit in the pocket to find receivers and was sacked four times. When he had a moment, his timing was just a little off. He also managed only 7 yards on 12 carries.
Fair, a two-way player, led the Timberwolves with 47 yards, including a 21-yard gain on his first rush, on six carries.
“Our offensive line is going to have to jell a little more on pass protection,” Lowrey said. “He didn”t get a chance to do what he wanted to do. I credit their defensive backs. Their DBs played well.”
Lowrey said West Oktibbeha also made too many mental mistakes against a fundamentally sound Eupora team that relied on the running of Javoris Draine (19 carries, 143 yards, two touchdowns) and Lazerick Davis (14 carries, 85 yards, touchdown) and controlled the line of scrimmage.
“We were always a step behind,” Lowrey said. “Everything was them by a foot. I credit that to them wanting it more. We just have to get more physical, but I did see that.”
Still, Eupora led only 14-8 at halftime after West Oktibbeha wiped 7 minutes, 16 seconds off the clock on a 23-play drive in the second quarter. An unsportsmanlike penalty on third down and a pass interference penalty on fourth down kept the drive alive and set the stage for Tiberias Lampkin to score on a 1-yard run. A Smith pass to Drake Powell made it 14-8 with 2:12 left in the half.
West Oktibbeha nearly recovered a short pooch kick, but Eupora responded and drove to the Timberwolves” 3 with nine seconds left in the half on a 32-yard pass from quarterback Jamal Roby to Derrick Jones, who jumped and leaned in over a defender to make the catch. The drive stalled following a procedure penalty and an incompletion and ended on a 2-yard gain by Davis.
Things weren”t as close in the second half.
Eupora marched 67 yards in 10 plays (nine rushes) and scored on a 1-yard run by Roby. His conversion run made it 22-8 with 7:42 remaining in the third quarter.
An offsides penalty and a snap infraction on the Timberwolves” first possession of the second half set the tone for the final 24 minutes.
Trailing 29-8, Lowrey commented on the sidelines that things were “breaking down all across the board” after Smith apparently misread the play called in and completed a pass to the wrong receiver for a 1-yard loss.
The mistakes prevented West Oktibbeha from getting a chance to see if it would be in the game in the fourth quarter like he discussed at halftime.
The loss also left West Oktibbeha (2-1) to regroup and to wonder if it is really as good as its first two victories and its lofty state ranking.
“That”s why the say football is a game of life,” Lowrey said. “In life, you have your ups and you have your downs. Those that overcome the downs are the ones who win. … The guys who are going to continue to put the work in are going to be the ones who are going to improve. Hopefully, it will be our entire team. If that is the case, this ain”t doing nothing but helping us.”
Most importantly, Lowrey hopes the result reminds his players that it isn”t about what they say, it is about what they do. While frustrated by the amount of “talk” leading up to the clash of neighbors, Lowrey said his players have to re-focus because there is a long season ahead of them.
“If you want to see somebody talk a good game, look at an Under Armour commercial,” Lowrey said. “If you want to see some real football, watch the game, especially if you are down and they are getting run at over and over and over. That is when you find out the character of a team.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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