CALEDONIA — Not far from the corner of the north end zone, Caledonia tailback Darrius Triplett huddled with his family, waiting for his teammate to snap the group picture.
Fullback Curtavis Johnson soon completed his task, returning the phone to his fellow senior Cavalier before exiting the stadium.
For one final time Thursday night, Johnson had Triplett’s back.
Triplett ran for 113 yards and a touchdown and Johnson added 67 yards and a score to pace Caledonia (6-0, 2-0 MHSAA Class 4A, Region 1) to a 49-7 rout of Tishomingo County (1-6, 0-2) on Thursday in Caledonia.
The two formed the backbone of a Cavaliers offense that ran 33 times for 413 yards and all seven touchdowns, including two each for running back Kewon Wyatt and quarterback Daniel Wilburn.
“It’s good to be versatile with the different guys in the backfield,” Triplett said.
Caledonia did so again Thursday as it powered its way to a sixth straight win, tying an all-time school record set in 1970. The Cavaliers have never had more than seven wins in a season, but Thursday, they took another step toward changing that.
“All in all, we asked our kids to be 1-0,” Caledonia coach Michael Kelly said. “They did what we asked them to do. I thought we did what we needed to do for the most part on the field to get that win.”
The Cavs scored in every quarter, holding the punchless Braves to a single meaningless touchdown inside the final minute. Blake Counce found an open Chandler Williams down the left sideline for a 23-yard score, dashing Caledonia’s shutout hopes.
Otherwise, the defensive performance was everything the home team could have hoped for.
Caledonia held Tishomingo County to 29 yards on 18 rushes, had multiple sacks, allowed no plays longer than 30 yards and thoroughly controlled the Region 1-4A contest.
“I think we’ve got a lot of guys who are real scrappy on that side of the ball,” Kelly said. “We tell them all the time: ‘It ain’t got to be pretty; just be real effective.’”
It wasn’t exactly pretty, but the same can’t be said for the Cavaliers’ offense. Caledonia executed its triple-option scheme to near perfection, running at will over Tishomingo County’s defense for all 48 minutes.
Literally. Caledonia’s first play from scrimmage was a pitch left from Wilburn to Triplett, who shot through the Braves’ defense for a 48-yard score.
It came after Reed Frady’s kickoff — meant to be a squib kick — shot off the wet grass and deflected off Tishomingo County sophomore Gavin Ross. Caledonia promptly jumped on the fumble, an unexpected but welcome early break.
“Hey, I’ll take it if we get it,” Kelly said.
For the rest of the contest, Caledonia simply took what it could get — and more.
Wilburn and Johnson bolstered the lead with first-quarter touchdowns. A safety on a poor punt snap by the Braves added two more points in the second quarter before Wilburn scored from 25 yards out.
In the third quarter, Wyatt scored from 4 yards out and scampered for a 50-yard touchdown on the play following a Tishomingo County turnover on downs.
Cameron Smith added a late 8-yard touchdown run for the Cavs, but it wouldn’t have been possible without Johnson’s efforts. The fullback got the ball on fourth-and-1 from the Braves’ 26 and powered for 4 yards; Smith scored two plays later.
“People ask about our offense all the time and the triple option,” Kelly said. “It doesn’t go without a fullback. We’ve got to have some good quarterbacks, which we do. We’ve got some good skill players. But we’ve got two or three good fullbacks, and Tae leads that bunch.”
Quarterbacks Wilburn and Zack Gorum combined to rush eight times for 77 yards, adding another dimension to a Caledonia offense on pace to break several school records.
The two combined to go 0 for 8 passing with an interception. Not that it mattered.
“I trust both those guys running our offense, and I look forward to seeing both of them continue to take us through the season,” Kelly said.
That begins next Friday at home on senior night against Mooreville (1-5, 0-1 Region 1-4A) — a team Kelly praised despite its struggles.
“They have a great quarterback,” Kelly said. “They can throw the football very well. We’ll need a great week of preparation getting ready for that. We’ll need to clean up some things on the run game and continue to get healthy. I’m looking forward to sending our seniors out with a nice home game here next Friday night.”
Caledonia 49, Tishomingo County 7
Tishomingo County (1-6) 0 0 0 7 — 7
Caledonia (6-0) 21 9 13 6 — 49
First quarter
C — Darrius Triplett 48 run (Reed Frady kick), 11:44
C — Daniel Wilburn 4 run (Frady kick), 4:39
C — Curtavis Johnson 27 run (Frady kick), 1:11
Second quarter
C — Safety, 7:08
C — Wilburn 25 run (Frady kick), 4:35
Third quarter
C — Kewon Wyatt 4 run (Frady kick), 9:03
C — Wyatt 50 run (kick failed), 6:22
Fourth quarter
C — Cameron Smith 8 run (kick failed), 7:08
TC — Chandler Williams 23 pass from Blake Counce (Mason Daniel kick), 0:56
Team statistics
TCHS CHS
First downs 8 19
Rushes-yards 18-29 33-413
Passing yards 119 0
Comp.-att.-int. 12-21-0 0-8-1
Penalties-yards 4-25 4-40
Fumbles-lost 3-2 2-0
Individual statistics
RUSHING: Tishomingo County — Chandler Williams 4-14, Bryan Scales 10-13, Jaxson Pryce-Jones 3-2, Joshua Moore 1-0; Caledonia — Darrius Triplett 7-113, Kewon Wyatt 3-80, Curtavis Johnson 9-67, Karsten Gullette 3-52, Daniel Wilburn 4-50, Zack Gorum 4-27, Avery Hodge 1-19, Cameron Smith 1-8, Tecondrey Irby 1-(-3).
PASSING: Tishomingo County — Blake Counce 7-10, 101; Chandler Williams 5-11, 18; Caledonia — Daniel Wilburn 0-3, 0; Zack Gorum 0-5, 0.
RECEIVING: Tishomingo County — Rylee Weeks 4-53, Chandler Williams 3-40, Blake Counce 4-15, Mason Daniel 1-11; Caledonia — None
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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