MACON — The Noxubee County High School football team sent a message to close the season.
One week after losing 14-12 to Louisville in the C Spire Wireless “Bright Lights Football” regionally televised game, the Noxubee County trounced Class 4A, Region 4 rival Caledonia 36-7 Friday night.
Running back Darrell Robinson scored three times, quarterback Deangelo Ballard threw for 180 yards and a touchdown, and the Noxubee County defense held Caledonia to less than 70 yards of offense.
“We wanted to put a complete game together,” Noxubee County coach Tyrone Shorter said.
The Tigers (9-2) used the ground game early to keep the Confederates (4-7) off balance and then struck with the passing game toward the end of the first half. Robinson accumulated 88 yards rushing on 16 carries, and Ladarrell Hunt added 79 yards rushing.
Ballard was 9 of 17 for 181 yards in the first half.
“That’s our game plan in the playoffs; run the ball. You’ve got to run the ball to win the state championship,” Shorter said.
Caledonia coach Ricky Kendrick said his defense expected the run, and Noxubee County went to the pass.
“They have so many fast guys on the outside, we just couldn’t keep up,” he said.
“Also, we played without 11 starters tonight. We had 11 guys who didn’t make the trip, so that hurt us.”
For Caledonia, quarterback Ben Marchbanks led the way throwing for 40 yards and a touchdown.
The Tigers pounced early with a touchdown on the opening drive of the game. The 10-play, 80-yard drive engulfed more than four minutes off the clock and was capped off by a 2-yard touchdown run by running back Jarvis Taylor. Noxubee County converted three third downs on the drive: the first coming on a 10-yard run by Ballard, the second on a 24-yard pass to Hunt and the third on a 39-yard pass to wide receiver Lemadrick Macon.
After a missed extra point, Caledonia fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Noxubee recovered at the 27 yard line. Five plays later, Noxubee County elected to kick a short, 18-yard field goal with 5:48 left in the first quarter to take a 9-0 lead.
Two more scores in the first half should have sent the Tigers into the locker room with a 22-0 lead, but Caledonia struck just before halftime.
Starting at their own 45 yard line with 1:15 left in the half, Marchbanks found tight end Colt Gilbreath for a 16-yard pass to enter into the Noxubee County side of the field for the first time. A personal foul at the end of the play tacked on 15 more yards, and Marchbanks found wide receiver Trey Lancaster on the next pay for a 24-yard touchdown pass with only 56 seconds left before halftime.
“We gave up a big play,” Shorter said. That’s where we’ve got to improve, our pass defense. Our run defense is good, but our pass defense is suspect.”
It was the only string of successful offensive plays Caledonia put together.
The Tigers held Caledonia to negative yardage in the Confederates’ first two second half possessions and never let them across midfield for the rest of the night.
If Shorter could find one negative about the performance, it was the amount of penalties. Noxubee County was charged with 10 penalties for 80 yards.
“Oh man. This team, they’re an aggressive team, but they still make silly mistakes,” Shorter said. “Sometimes we can be undisciplined … It’ll cost you in the playoffs. We’ve got to clean it up.
Overall, Shorter feels confident his Tigers are ready for the playoffs.
“We’re healthy. We wanted to make sure we survived tonight without any injuries,” he said.
Ballard’s one touchdown strike came with 3:57 left in the second quarter on a 25-yard pass to wide receiver Terrance Barron, who totaled 51 yards receiving.
Robinson then scored the first of his three touchdowns with 1:21 left in the half to give Noxubee a 22-0 lead. His second half scores were runs of three yards and 19 yards.
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