West Lowndes football had a point to prove against Tupelo Christian Prep on Thursday night, a game that was moved up a day due to weather concerns.
One fewer day of preparations didn’t phase the Panthers, who came into the game winless against the Eagles in three all-time meetings, scoring just 34 points combined over those three games.
However, Thursday was a completely different story from the jump for West Lowndes, who established the running game almost immediately and began piling on the points, dominating from start to finish in a 40-14 victory.
“We’re a physical team,” West Lowndes head coach Anthony King said. “We’re a running team, so we’re going to do all we can to be physical. We didn’t execute our running game like we wanted to, but we did just enough.”
Just enough was eight different offensive plays of 10 yards or more in the first half alone, including three rushing touchdowns, two from quarterback Elijah Johnson, who ran for 172 yards on 20 carries.
Johnson led the Panthers (2-1) in rushing yards on the night and was one of five different West Lowndes players to score a touchdown in the victory.
The running game was on point, but the offensive line was even more so, allowing for gaps to open up and expose Tupelo Christian’s defensive line and secondary.
“We just leaned on our big guys and told them to drive them back so we could put it in the endzone,” Johnson said.
Arguably the biggest swing of the game came just over midway through the second quarter as West Lowndes was driving down the field.
The ball was handed off to Rodarius Price, who found an opening down the sideline and ran it in for a 34-yard touchdown. That gave the Panthers a 20-0 lead with 5:05 remaining in the half after a failed two-point conversion.
Then Tupelo Christian got the ball and had excellent field position near midfield, looking for its first points of the game.
Eagles quarterback Bailey Brewer, who completed just two of 13 passes in the first half, tried to find an open receiver down the sideline, but Price once again came up big, this time defensively as he picked off Brewer not even 20 seconds of game time later.
That set the tone for the second half, one that saw the Panthers outscore TCPS 20-14 in, once again dominating on the ground.
“We had a number of younger guys on the line, and those guys did a great job,” King said. “They’re young, and we want them to keep gelling. We need them to execute for a big game next week.”
That big game is the first district game of the season for West Lowndes at home against Noxapater, a team that the Panthers have gotten the best over the past two seasons.
After losing six of its first seven meetings against the Tigers, West Lowndes has won two straight in dominating fashion, outscoring Noxapater 95-7 over those two games.
If tonight was any indication of what to expect for next Friday, there are a lot of good things in store for the Panthers, and this win continued to snowball momentum moving forward for this program.
“It was just a big win,” Johnson said. “It’s a big win to help get our confidence up going into district play and go win another week.”
West Lowndes 40, Tupelo Christian Prep 14
Tupelo Christian Prep (2-1) 0 0 7 7 — 14
West Lowndes (2-1) 14 6 6 14 — 40
First quarter
WL — Elijah Johnson 2 run (2-point no good), clock 9:37
WL — Johnson 4 run (2-point good), clock 3:43
Second quarter
WL — Rodarius Price 34 run (2-point no good), clock 5:05
Third quarter
WL — Jaylen Doyle 50 run (2-point no good), clock 7:10
TCPS — Jenkins Wells 10 run (Stuart Long kick), clock 1:13
Fourth quarter
WL — JaQuavious Tate 2 run (2-point no good), clock 10:19
WL — Decambi Evans 1 run (2-point good), clock 5:03
TCPS — Wells 9 run (Long kick), clock 3:47
Other scores
Prep football
Columbus Christian Academy 50, Kemper Academy 0
Aliceville (Ala.) 56, Francis Marion (Ala.) 0
Prep volleyball
New Hope 3, Neshoba Central 0
PHILADELPHIA — New Hope volleyball swept Neshoba Central on the road Thursday to remain undefeated in the regular season.
Set scores were 27-25, 25-14 and 25-20.
New Hope will host Columbus on Tuesday.
Caledonia 3, Shannon 0
SHANNON — Caledonia swept Shannon in Thursday’s road match.
Set scores were 25-4, 25-4 and 25-11.
The Cavaliers improved to 10-3 overall and 3-0 in district play.
Caledonia hosts Starkville on Tuesday.
Prep softball
Oak Hill Academy 21, Rossville Christian (Tenn.) 9, Game 1
Oak Hill Academy 13, Rossville Christian (Tenn.) 0 — Game 2, suspended in second inning
Magnolia Heights 11, Starkville Academy 1, Game 1
Magnolia Heights 12, Starkville Academy 2, Game 2
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