COLUMBUS — On a rainy Halloween night at West Lowndes High School, it was the visiting Smithville Seminoles who were seeing ghosts.
The Panthers opened up a 40-point lead in the first half and had four rushing touchdowns of at least 40 yards in a 48-0 blowout, heading into the playoffs on a positive note.
“The offensive line played well, and (I’m) proud of our defense,” West Lowndes head coach Anthony King said. “The last two weeks, they’ve been playing pretty good. Offense has been blocking pretty good. They’re playing fast and they’re playing lights out.”
The Panthers (4-5) had a big size advantage at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, and they ran the ball with ease through the left side of the line. Jakylen Lucious, Dekambi Evans and Jonivon Edwards all broke free for explosive plays as West Lowndes put the game in running clock territory less than halfway through the second quarter.
Lucious opened the scoring with a 44-yard touchdown run on the first drive of the game, and the Panthers recovered a fumbled pitch on Smithville’s first offensive play. That led to an 18-yard rushing touchdown for Evans, and West Lowndes — which ran successful two-point conversions after each of its six touchdowns — led 16-0 after less than four minutes.
“We were trying to get to the outside, but they were stacking so much to the outside that they left the middle kind of soft, so we attacked that,” King said. “That’s what we like about being in the box. You can pick out the weak spots.”
Following a three-and-out, Evans made it a 24-point lead before the first quarter was through with a 22-yard score. His third touchdown of the night extended the lead to 32 early in the second.
The Seminoles (1-8) did have their chances. They recovered a muffed punt just across midfield late in the first quarter, but a sack extinguished any hope of turning the mistake into points. Smithville started its next drive at the Panthers’ 35-yard line thanks to a long kickoff return, then converted a fourth down on a quarterback sneak before stalling after that.
When West Lowndes got the ball back, Edwards found a running lane to the left before cutting back all the way to the right for a 77-yard touchdown.
“The whole offensive line (stood out),” King said. “Dekambi Evans did great, he ran the ball hard. We were very pleased with the way he ran the ball, him and Jakylen Lucious.”
Lucious found the end zone for the second time with a 69-yard touchdown run in the third quarter to complete the scoring. With the ball and grass both slippery, the Seminoles had a hard time completing passes and struggled to run the ball against the Panthers’ superior size.
West Lowndes will open MHSAA Class 1A postseason play at home next week as the No. 2 seed out of their district, facing Tupelo Christian Prep.
“We have the first round here. We didn’t win the district like we wanted to, but we get the first round at home and it seems like we got a soft bracket, so it kind of worked out perfect,” King said. “We’re still writing the script. Hopefully we play five more games.”
West Lowndes 48, Smithville 0
Smithville 0 0 0 0 — 0
West Lowndes 24 16 8 0 — 48
First quarter
WL — Jakylen Lucious 44 run (Dekambi Evans run), clock 9:48
WL — Evans 18 run (Lucious run), clock 8:06
WL — Evans 22 run (Luciouis run), clock 5:29
Second quarter
WL — Evans 53 run (Jonivon Edwards run), clock 10:34
WL — Edwards 77 run (Lucious run), clock 6:14
Third quarter
WL — Lucious 69 run (Evans run), clock 6:11
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