ABERDEEN — With what could be the Class 3A, Region 2 championship game against Water Valley High School on tap here at 7 tonight, Aberdeen High football coach Mark Bray needed a severe test for his Bulldogs last week.
Bray didn’t get everything he had hoped for, but he did get his wish for a half, as Aberdeen built a 14-0 first-quarter lead but only led 22-6 at the half — a far cry from the 32-0 and 52-0 halftime leads it had against Mantachie and Nettleton the previous two weeks.
“When you’re 30, 40 or 50 points ahead at halftime, your starters put in more time on the bench than they do in the game,” Bray said. “That means they only get to play a couple of quarters and, although they can’t get hurt sitting out the second half, they’re not getting the game experience they need when we go up against the better teams on our schedule.”
True to form, Aberdeen reverted to its high-scoring ways in the third quarter, going on a 24-point scoring binge. It added a touchdown by the reserves in the fourth quarter for a 52-6 victory. It was the second week in a row the Bulldogs won by that score, and the third consecutive week they dropped 52 points on a division opponent.
“I didn’t want it to be too close, but we did manage to get about two-and-a-half quarters out of our starters this week,” Bray said.
A couple of minutes into the game, Bray’s wish for a close game didn’t appear to be materializing, as the Bulldogs scored on their first play, a 64-yard Josh Williams’ scoring toss to Sammie Burroughs. Two plays later, a 30-yard interception return by Jeremy Brandon made it 12-0.
A safety on Mooreville’s second possession pushed the score to 14-0, but the Troopers mounted their only drive of the game and scored on a 30-yard touchdown pass to cap the 60-yard march to make it a 14-6 contest late in the second period.
With less than a minute left in the half, Williams gave the Bulldogs a 16-point halftime cushion with a 44-yard run and a two-point conversion pass to Justin Lucas.
It was business as usual for the Bulldogs in the third quarter, as G.G. Blanchard stripped the ball away and took it 30 yards to make it 28-6.
Chico Harrison then added a 44-yard touchdown run, Aaron McMillian latched on to a 32-yard scoring toss from Williams, and Lucas rambled 17 yards for a touchdown to push the score to 45-6 to close the third period.
Aberdeen’s final score came less than three minutes into the fourth on a 12-yard run by Chris McMillian.
The Bulldogs finished with 268 yards rushing and 121 passing for 389 yards. Harrison led the Dogs rushing with 121 yards on 16 caries, while Williams was 5-for-8 with two touchdown passes and one interception. Burroughs was his favorite target with 3 catches for 75 yards.
Tonight’s game matches the two highest scoring teams in the region and the two stingiest defenses.
Water Valley (8-1, 3-0) has racked up 352 points for a 39.1 scoring average, while Aberdeen (7-2, 3-0) has scored 286 points for a 31.8 average.
Defensively, the Blue Devils have given up 124 points for a 13.8 average, again better than Aberdeen’s 176 points surrendered for a 19.6 average.
Water Valley’s lone loss came at the hands of state-ranked Charleston (35-21). Its closest margin of victory was a 17-16 win against Bruce.
Common opponents for both teams include Mooreville and Nettleton. Water Valley beat Mooreville 45-0 and Nettleton 33-13, while Aberdeen whipped both teams 52-6.
“Water Valley is big and physical,” Bray said. “They like to line up and run right at you and they do a good job of it.”
According to Max Preps, the Blue Devils average 270.6 yards per game on the ground and 92.2 yards per game through the air.
Defensively, Water Valley stacks the box to make their opponents throw the football, a tactic which the Bulldogs might welcome.
“Josh (Williams) has been throwing the ball pretty well lately and if they shut our running game down, he’ll have to pick up the slack,” said Bray.
Hamilton
n Football team takes on East Webster: After a 6-6 halftime tie with last-place J.Z. George, Hamilton cranked it up in the second half en route to a 27-6 win. The two distinct halves of football left Hamilton head coach Ray Weeks perplexed.
“We were sluggish in the first half and didn’t play very well and then came out in the third quarter with a lot more energy and took care of business,” Weeks said. “I don’t know exactly why, but I think it was a combination of looking past them because we had beaten them pretty bad last year and the fact that our young kids had never been in that situation before.”
Deion Howard led the offensive charge with 203 yards rushing and three touchdowns on 18 carries. His longest run covered 68 yards — most of which came behind the blocking of Jeremy Lindsey. Pallas Fair also dented the scoring column with a touchdown reception.
“We pretty much ran behind Jeremy all night,” Weeks said.
Silas Gill and Tanner Dement turned in outstanding defensive performances for the Lions.
Hamilton (4-5, 2-1) will play host to East Webster (7-2, 2-1) at 7 tonight. The loser will drop out of a three-way tie for second place with Ackerman (6-3, 2-1) in Region 2-2A.
“Despite the difference in the overall records (with East Webster and Ackerman) we match up pretty good with them,” Weeks said. “They’ve got a good quarterback and a good running back, and their defense plays hard and is disciplined in what they do.”
NFL Network’s Rapoport takes one in the face
A sideline reporter for the NFL Network who has ties to Aberdeen was on the sideline at Reliant Stadium in the midst of a live broadcast prior to Sunday’s Green Bay-Houston game when an errant football plunked him in the face.
Ian Rapoport, whose mother- and father-in-law (Julia and Ray Darty) and grandfather- and grandmother-in-law (Walter and Nell Flicker) live in Aberdeen, took the hit in stride and somehow kept his composure despite nearly being knocked over.
Rapoport, who is married to Julia Darty’s daughter, Leah, was previewing Sunday’s contest between the unbeaten Houston Texans and the Green Bay Packers and had just remarked that Green Bay needed to improve defensively when the ball struck him in the face.
Mustering all the professionalism at his command, Rapoport laughed off the incident, saying, “Did you guys just see that football?”
Later Rapoport tweeted, “Oh, and thanks for everyone’s concern. My face is, um, as it was. For better or worse.”
The incident has drawn national and international notoriety and has been covered by NBC, ABC, CBS, The Sporting News, Fox Sports, ESPN, Bleacher Report, The Huffington Post, and youtube, among others, as well as by scores of blogs on the Internet and dozens of newspapers.
“Ian was even on the Jimmy Kimmel Show Monday night,” Walter Flicker said.
The video also made the news overseas, as a Twitter follower tweeted, “You even made the Dutch Press. They call you a ‘tough reporter.’ ”
Rapoport, who is in his first season with the NFL Network, is a former Jackson Clarion-Ledger beat reporter who covered Mississippi State University. He has also worked at The Westchester (N.Y.) Journal News, as an intern for ESPN Classic and for the Birmingham (Ala.) News covering the University of Alabama’s various sports teams.
Prior to hiring on at the NFL Network earlier this year, he was the Boston Herald’s lead beat reporter covering the New England Patriots.
Hall of Fame coach with ties to Monroe County Roasted
Amory native Jack Carlisle, whose daughter and son-in-law (Jane and Bubba Hubbard) lived in Aberdeen several years ago, was roasted Tuesday in Jackson at the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame Roast in a benefit to raise funds for the museum.
As Rick Cleveland, executive director of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame put it in a recent release, “The first honoree — or victim — is legendary coach Jack Carlisle, Happy Jack to his legion of admirers. Folks, we are going to have some fun with this and we’re going to make some money to make some badly needed improvements here at the museum.”
A three-year starter for Amory High as a 125-pound running back, Carlisle graduated in 1947 after playing on the Little 10 championship team as a senior and then lost a leg in a motorcycle accident shortly thereafter. He attended East Mississippi Junior College for one year before graduating from MSU in 1952.
His first coaching job was at Ethel, and Carlisle, who is 83 and lives in Brandon with his wife of 63 years, has coached football and track in high school and/or college for the better part of the past 60 years
With stops at Ethel, Lula-Rich Nettleton, Jackson Murrah, Jackson Prep Academy, Madison-Ridgeland Academy, Jackson St. Joseph, Simpson Academy, University Christian School, and Collierville, Tenn., Carlisle has a 272-70-17 record for winning percentage of 81 percent.
His football teams have won seven state football championships, and his track squads have nine state titles. He also guided Murrah to eight city of Jackson football and track championships in 11 years and tied for the football title two more times.
Carlisle has coached at the University of Mississippi, Millsaps, Mississippi College, and East Central Community College and was head football coach at East Tennessee State from 1978-82. After coaching in seven different decades, he retired last year after serving as special teams coordinator at Louisiana College.
Carlisle has been named coach of the year no less than 20 times and he has as sent almost 150 of his players on to the collegiate ranks. He has also been inducted into five athletic halls of fame — Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame (2004), East Mississippi C.C. (2003), Mississippi Association of Coaches (1989), Jackson Prep (1996), and Collierville High School (1975).
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