MABEN — For all the attention Von Smith and the high-scoring West Oktibbeha County High School football team’s offense gets each week, coach Adam Lowrey knew there’d come a time when the defense would have to carry the team.
On Friday, the Timberwolves defense recorded three turnovers and four sacks and held the East Oktibbeha Titans to under 100 yards of offense in a 40-14 win, their fourth straight against their county rival.
The defense made a statement early, holding the Titans to a three-and-out inside the 10 after James Brown intercepted Smith’s first pass of the game.
West Oktibbeha (7-2, 5-1 Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 1A, Region 3) came up empty on its first three offensive drives, but interceptions by Smith and Drake Powell and a pair of sacks from Tiberias Lampkin made the slow start on offense irrelevant.
Smith was 13 of 32 for 212 yards with a touchdown and a pair of interceptions. He added 57 rushing yards and a pair of rushing scores each side of halftime.
Powell finished with 145 receiving yards, including touchdowns of 32 and 85 yards.
It was a typical high-scoring night for the Timberwolves, but Lowrey said the defense was responsible for creating field position and making the Titans one-dimensional.
Titans quarterback Davalyn Bell was chased out of the pocket all night and finished 7 of 32 for 40 yards. He threw two interceptions and was sacked four times.
Titans running back James Brown was held to 11 yards on nine carries.
“It got to the point when they were throwing almost every single play,” Lowrey said. “We’ve been telling Donovan Henderson and Michael Graise, our defensive ends, as soon as we play a throwing team y’all are really gonna be able to show what y’all can do.”
The lone bright spot for the Titans (5-4, 3-3 1A, Region 3) was an 85-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Terrence Rice that cut the West Oktibbeha lead to 14-8.
But Smith put a dagger in any hopes the Titans had of making a run when he intercepted Bell. Five plays later hit Powell for an 85-yard touchdown pass just before the break. The pump-and-go move froze cornerback Kortland Petty and Powell scooted into the end zone to give West Oktibbeha a 26-8 lead at halftime.
“We didn’t get it done,” East Oktibbeha coach Randy Brooks said. “This team, going to the playoffs was not a big enough priority for them. I’m not gonna hold my tongue. At the beginning of the season, it was. But at some point, it just stopped being a priority.”
Lowrey credited East Oktibbeha’s defense with making him switch up his play-calling strategy and forcing Smith to make plays on the run. Smith was uncharacteristically inaccurate, but he made up for it by taking the rushing lanes the Titans’ blitzes left for him
And for Powell, being left in man coverage was like dropping blood in a shark tank.
“We ran the ball a lot — pretty good — and there were times when we weren’t clicking all the way,” Powell said. “But we were open. Like the fly route down there, it was open. And can’t nobody man us.”
West Oktibbeha running back Shun Fair had 92 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries.
Brown and Bell each had interceptions for the Titans.
West Oktibbeha will travel to Noxapater on Friday with second place in the region on the line. East Oktibbeha, which has lost three straight, will play host to Nanih Waiya.
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