MACON — West Point football continued its recent stretch of dominance over Noxubee County on Friday night, trouncing the Tigers 52-7 in Macon.
With the victory, the Green Wave have now won seven straight contests against Noxubee County, outscoring the Tigers 255-58 in that stretch.
“We played a complete game tonight,” West Point coach Chris Chambless said. “But we have to clean up the penalties; our guys know that, and we take pride in that. Other than that, we blocked and tackled well tonight. That’s the name of the game.”
Quarterback Brandon Harris was nearly unstoppable for West Point, running for 89 yards on 11 carries with four touchdowns. He also completed both of his two passing attempts for 77 yards and a touchdown.
“He makes us go,” Chambless said of Harris. “But he has a great supporting cast around him. He does a lot of good things, and we’re fortunate we have a lot of good players so teams can’t just key on him. It opens up a lot of stuff for us, and he’s been a great leader for this team.”
Harris opened both of West Point’s opening drive with rushing touchdowns from three and two yards out, respectively.
“We played at a high tempo tonight,” Harris said. “We just had to keep grinding.”
With 1:26 before halftime, Harris notched his third touchdown of the game, taking in a score from nine yards out.
Noxubee County answered with its lone score of the night, as quarterback Marlon Windham connected with receiver Coby Lockett on a fly route for a 38-yard touchdown strike to reduce the deficit to 21-7.
“We have potential on offense; we just have to put it together,” Noxubee County coach Teddy Young said. “We flash it in spurts, but we have to put four quarters together.”
West Point put together a sustained drive in the final minute before the half and cashed in on a 40-yard field goal from kicker Alex Harper that just barely had enough distance.
“Special teams has come through for us a lot,” Harris said. “I’m really proud of how that unit has looked, and I just have to give a shoutout to our special teams tonight.”
Harris delivered the knockout blow on West Point’s first series of the second half with a 22-yard rushing touchdown then later found wideout Jordan Rupert for a 20-yard scoring connection.
Rupert finished with four receptions for 41 yards, while Jakobe Pate hauled in four passes for 105 receiving yards. Pate also ran for 23 yards on two carries and scored a rushing touchdown, while Jimothy Mays had 56 yards on 11 carries with a touchdown. Quarterback Gray Berry finished 5 of 8 passing for 47 yards and an interception.
The Green Wave won the turnover battle 3-1, thanks to two special teams fumble recoveries and an interception from Xavier Moody.
“We had too many turnovers,” Young said. “Like I told the guys all week, to beat this type of program, we cannot turn the ball over. On defense, we missed too many tackles.”
Offensively for Noxubee County, Jeffery Malone caught five passes for 51 yards, while Lockett added two receptions for 45 yards. Windham finished 11 of 19 passing for 113 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
Defensively for the Tigers, Zack Andrews recorded an interception, and Travorus Hatcher had a sack.
West Point (4-1) is back in action next week against Lafayette on the road, while Noxubee County (3-2) faces Greenwood on the road.
Hodge is the former sports editor for The Dispatch.
You can help your community
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 33 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
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 33 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
