CRAWFORD — Words don’t win games.
That may be the biggest difference between the 2011 West Oktibbeha County High School football team and the 2012 version.
A year ago, the Timberwolves had the athletes and the weapons to make a run at the Class 1A, Region 3 title, only to stumble down the stretch and tumble out of the playoffs in the first round.
This season is different. For the seniors, who have been team leaders for the past four years, this is their chance to make a mark on a program that thirsts to gain respect. That’s why when the Timberwolves say “All in” this season, the chorus of voices has a deeper feeling and an energy that shows all of the players believe and are willing to do what it takes to get the squad to Jackson, the site of the state’s championship games.
Tiberias Lampkin, Von Smith, and the rest of the Timberwolves took another step toward that goal Friday night. Lampkin rushed for 175 yards and three touchdowns, Smith rushed for a touchdown, and backup quarterback Kelsey Jefferson threw a touchdown pass to Lavante Tate to complete a 34-6 victory against East Oktibbeha County High.
The victory was the sixth in a row for West Oktibbeha (8-1, 6-0 region) in the series. It also helped the Timberwolves set a single-season record for victories. In coach Adam Lowrey’s fifth season, West Oktibbeha has won one, five, six, seven, and now eight games.
“The Bible says when you trim the bush, the other branches get a chance to grow,” Lowrey said. “With this group coming up now and all of the other guys before them gone, they can set their own legacy.”
Lowrey said the players — particularly the senior leaders — have committed themselves to having faith in someone bigger than them. He said the key is the players don’t only say it, they live it. As a result, even though the Timberwolves carry a roster of less than 20 players, their strength is a collective that reflects the strength of many, many more.
“This is a lifetime bond we will have,” Lowrey said. “We will be old and gray and one day be able to look at each other and say, ‘All in.’ We will remember the sacrifice we made here, and that’s why 12 people can win a game, 14 people can win a game. When Von went down, someone else stepped up. That’s what ‘All in’ is all about.”
Lowrey said the leaders on the team, like Smith and Lampkin, have been in that role since they were freshmen. Each year, the leaders have taken a hold of the team and pushed it into position to make a run at a state title.
This season, West Oktibbeha already has clinched a playoff berth. It holds the tiebreaker on Nanih Waiya and will finish at least third in the eight-team district. Games remain against defending state champion Noxapater next week in Maben and against Pelahatchie on the road the following week.
Victories in both games would help West Oktibbeha, which is ranked No. 5 in this Associated Press poll, win its first district championship. Sturgis High won a state title in 1981, and three division championships (1981, ’86, ’91), while Maben made four playoff appearances and never won a district title. Those schools closed when West Oktibbeha High opened in 2002.
Smith, who lit up the area with his passing totals last season, said he will be ready for those games. The senior quarterback didn’t play in the second half after turning an ankle. He stayed active on the sidelines, though, serving as cheerleader with a pink hand towel in honor of breast cancer awareness month.
“We have no pressure because we practice hard, we work hard, day by day,” Smith said. “Everyone comes in and works hard in the weight room. We practice real, real hard. We’re just ready. There is no pressure. We’re going to go into that game like we went into every other game and put it into the Lord’s hands and for sure, we’re going to come out with a victory.”
Lowrey’s first team in 2008 used a smash-mouth style of offense that his latest squad has adopted. With Smith at quarterback, the Timberwolves still can zip the ball through the air all over the field, but Lowrey said an offensive line that features seniors Johnny Chambers and Michael Graise, junior Davarius West, sophomore Zach Watson, and freshman Trynel Baker has success paving the way for Lampkin, so he isn’t going to try to go away from that.
Smith said the team came together following a loss to Class 2A Eupora in its third game of the season. The team came up with the mantra “All in” following that game and responded by beating Nanih Waiya at home the following week. That victory started a six-game winning streak the team hopes to ride all of the way to Jackson.
“Dedication is the biggest word,” Smith said. “Last year, we had guys — seniors — that wanted to come in and be lazy. Every football team, the younger kids feed off the seniors, so the seniors would come in with lazy attitudes and not want to practice. Later on in the season, they were ready for basketball season. This year, we’re going to give it our all.”
With a hard-charging runner like Lampkin, the Timberwolves won’t hesitate to give it to their senior leader and let him go.
Lampkin agrees the change in mind-set has been a key to the team’s success. He said the Timberwolves no longer are just an team that can light up a scoreboard. He said the team’s defense can keep teams dark on their side of the scoreboard even if the depth or the size isn’t there.
“It is an amazing feeling,” Lampkin said. “This was the eighth-grade group that told each other we’re going to win a state championship this year. I know in other years we had good athletes, but we had dead ends. Some people didn’t want to come to practice. This year, the guys are all in. They’re at practice every day, they’re hitting the weight room every day. When you have guys who want to work, it makes you want to work harder for the guys who are working, go even harder to win.”
Thanks to the leadership of the seniors, the Timberwolves have embraced all of Lowrey’s words and are fully invested in playing their role to get the team to Jackson, the site of the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 1A state title game.
“It has always been this group,” Lowrey said. “We have had good ballplayers, but not leaders. This is the team. This is our time.”
On three … “All in.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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