Jaquavious Tate stands all of 5 feet, 4 inches tall, while Marquez Shelton towers over him, a good 8 inches taller. They don’t look like they play the same sport, much less do some of the same things.
But Tate, a junior, and the senior Shelton have been among the area’s most productive rushing duos and are two of the big reasons the West Lowndes High School football team controls its own destiny in Class 1A Region 3.
Tate and Shelton and the rest of the Panthers can get a stranglehold on the chase for the region title Friday night when they welcome French Camp Academy to Columbus. West Lowndes (4-2) has won its first three region games, while French Camp Academy (2-4) opened with back-to-back victories.
West Lowndes is only 1-5 in the Panthers vs. Panthers series, winning 32-31 two years ago. But West Lowndes is playing at a high level right now, with only a 2-point loss to Tupelo Christian Prep keeping them from riding a five-game winning streak.
“I like that we’re improving each week,” West Lowndes coach Anthony King said. “Our offense has been starting to come around, and our defense has been playing great all year.”
Starting to come around is a polite way of saying tearing up opposing defenses. Last week, Tate rushed for 122 yards and a touchdown and returned a kickoff for a score while Shelton had two scoring runs among his 75 yards as the Panthers defeated Leake County 35-8 without completing a single pass.
A week earlier, quarterback Fred Rice threw for 144 yards, Tate ran for 144 and Shelton rushed for 93 on just 8 carries during a 28-22 win over Sebastopol. A week before that, Tate’s 144 yards led a 320-yard rushing attack in a 58-0 rout of Noxapater.
The Panthers of early October are a far cry from the team that opened the season with a 21-7 loss to Biggersville in a game King called “the worst offensive performance in 10 years.”
“First week, we weren’t in shape,” said King, whose teams have gone 41-41 in district play since he took over in 2011. “It’s a tough way to find out, during a regular season game. Once we got tired, we couldn’t even line up right.”
“That first game, we found out what we needed to do,” Shelton said.
Knowing what to do is one thing, doing it is another, and West Lowndes has been doing it, averaging almost 35 points per game since.
The biggest reason is simple, according to Shelton.
“Discipline,” he said during practice Wednesday. “We’re more disciplined than other teams.”
Tate agreed but also got more specific.
“It’s just the work at practice, the defense, our offensive line blocking,” Tate said. “If we want to get better, there’s really not much more. We have it all.”
Shelton said while he has the height advantage, Tate is faster, “but not by much,” he said with a grin. But the difference between the two is enough to frustrate defenses, who can’t focus on the style of either one of them.
“Quez Shelton is a receiver, but we put him at slotback some,” King said. “Tate’s just a little machine, small in stature but real fast and real strong, and he gets stronger as the game goes on. We have the luxury of those guys going one way. They’re just as fresh in the fourth quarter as they were in the first quarter.”
The confident Tate likes the arrangement, but he also stands ready to contribute on defense.
“It’s great,” he said, “but I would recommend us both playing defense because we do have the energy, but going one way is great with me.”
At the controls of the very productive offense is Rice, a reluctant quarterback.
“We asked him to do it, and he didn’t really want to do it,” King said of the converted running back. “He’s a senior, he’s real smart, and he’s tough. He’s been doing an outstanding job.”
Rice’s numbers were especially good during a 24-22 loss to Tupelo Christian Prep, when he threw for 156 yards and a touchdown and led the Panthers with 85 yards rushing and a TD. But, in just his third game at quarterback, he also threw three interceptions, with the Panthers also losing a fumble. But that was better than opening night, when West Lowndes turned it over six times on four fumbles and two interceptions.
“We’re still having too many turnovers and too many flags, but we’re getting better,” King said.
With more size and depth than many 1A teams, the Panthers will pose problems for the rest of their division rivals, each of which has at least one region loss.
“I don’t think any team wants to see us right now as far as the regular season,” King said. “Playoffs will be a little tougher.”
That, King said, is why it’s so important for the Panthers to win the region and get more postseason games at home. And defeating French Camp Academy would put them in the driver’s seat for that.
“I don’t see them beating us,” Tate said. “We have the strength and the speed and the discipline.
“If they want it, they’re going to have to come hard.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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