With a chance to lock up a district title, the West Lowndes High School football team turned in a dominant performance Friday night, outplaying Ethel on the ground, in the air and on defense in a 42-2 rout to remain unbeaten in Class 1A, Region 3.
“It’s been a tough week of practice with homecoming, but the boys came out and played tough,” Panthers coach Anthony King said. “They did what they were supposed to do on offense and defense.”
Quarterback Fred Rice threw for 233 yards and three touchdowns — two to Marquez Shelton — and ran for a third for West Lowndes, which clinched a tie for the region title. The only team that can tie them is French Camp Academy, and the Panthers won that game 26-3 to claim the head-to-head tiebreaker, locking up their first district title since 1992.
West Lownes is now 7-1 all time against Ethel.
“We did a good job in pass protection, and Fred did a good job passing,” King said. “We like to test teams’ strength from the jump. We started out well with the run to wear them out before we started passing it out.”
West Lowndes overwhelmed Ethel with 406 yards of total offense on 34 plays, while it took Ethel 62 plays to gain 209 total yards. The Panthers did not turn the ball over all night, while the Tigers lost two fumbles and threw an interception.
Tellingly, West Lowndes faced only four third-down plays all game.
The Panthers’ offense made a statement after taking over at the 23-yard line on its first possession, with JaQuavious Tate needing just two carries to get them to midfield before Rice found tight end Decamby Willis for 42 yards. Rice would take it in himself from a yard out for the first Panthers score.
Willis led West Lowndes with 108 yards on 3 receptions.
Tate put them on the board again early in the second quarter on a 40-yard TD run that made it 14-0. Tate finished with 9 carries for 94 yards.
The Tigers found some offense on their next drive, getting into the red zone with their rushing attack. But the Panthers almost picked off a third-down pass, and a fourth-down pass fell incomplete, giving West Lowndes the ball at its own 13.
The next few minutes proved decisive. A 68-yard run by Shelton set up a 20-yard touchdown scamper by Tate, an interception gave the Panthers the ball back, and Rice went to work from there.
Starting at the Ethel 42, Rice found Tate on a screen pass for 22 yards, then hit Willis for another 10 to set up first down at the 12. With 5 seconds to go in the half, Rice found Shelton in the end zone for the score and a 28-0 halftime lead.
The Tigers didn’t quit, trying an onside kick to open the second half. It didn’t work, but a good punt return set them up at their 40 on their first possession of the second half. They moved to the West Lowndes 34 before turning the ball over on downs.
A couple of plays after taking over, the Panthers added to their lead on a 56-yard scoring pass from Rice to Willis, and the 2-point conversion made it 36-0.
Again, the Tigers turned it over on downs, and again the Panthers struck through the air, with Rice hitting Shelton on a 38-yard touchdown pass. Rice gave Shelton a chance on a 50/50 ball, the receiver came down with it, shrugged off a defender then kept his balance to reach the end zone for a 42-0 lead.
Ethel put together a drive that took most of the fourth quarter that reached the West Lowndes 3-yard line, but they couldn’t find the end zone on four tries and again turned it over on downs with 4 minutes left.
But they finally got on the scoreboard by leaving the Panthers backed up near their own goal line. Tate was swarmed and tackled in the end zone for a safety as Ethel avoided a shutout.
Cameron Blair led the Panthers with 9.5 tackles, including 7 solo, while Royquavious Williams finished with 6 solo and 3 assisted tackles.
West Lowndes has a week off before closing the regular season at home against Vardaman.
West Lowndes 42, Ethel 2
Ethel (5-4, 3-2 1A-3) 0 0 0 2 — 2
West Lowndes (7-2, 6-0 1A-3) 8 20 14 0 —42
First quarter
WL — Fred Rice 1 run (Jaquavious Tate run), 7:58
Second quarter
WL — Tate 40 run (run failed)
WL — Tate 20 run (run failed), 2:02
WL — Marquez Shelton 17 pass from Rice (Rice run), 0:05
Third quarter
WL — Decamby Willis 56 pass from Rice (Shelton pass from Rice), 5:00
WL — Shelton 38 pass from Rice (run failed), 0:28
Fourth quarter
E — Safety, Tate tackled in end zone, 3:47
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