Sports

Friday, Oct. 30, 2009

Red Rebels turn back Panthers

LYMAN — The Harrison Central Red Rebels stopped the Pascagoula Panthers 38-20 at Earl Phillips Memorial Stadium in Lyman to improve their record to 9-1 as they march towards a strong seed in the upcoming state playoffs.

The Red Rebels, the Sun Herald’s No. 1 team in South Mississippi, have continued to step into new territory each week as they pile up the wins, putting them on track to have the best football season in the history of the school.

Harrison Central is 5-1 in Region 4-6A, tied with Ocean Springs and George County for first place.

“We didn’t play that well tonight at times,” senior quarterback Aerion Williams said. “That’s the mark of a good team though. To get the job done when we weren’t at our best.”

The Red Rebels used all of their offensive bag of treats as they jumped out to an early lead when quarterback David Ladner, substituting for a slightly injured Williams in the first quarter, scored on a 2-yard run. Senior kicker Michael Dye booted the first of his five extra points to give Harrison Central a 7-0 lead.

Senior running back Furious Bradley added a 14-yard run for Harrison Central to give them a 14-0 lead.

The Panthers, (2-8, 1-5) put a strong first half offensive effort with Major Williams scoring on a 1-yard run. That was followed by Senquez Golson’s outstanding catch in the corner of the end zone on 20-yard touchdown pass from Jaron Shannon. Grant Warren’s extra point tied the score at 14.

Harrison Central scored a late second quarter touchdown when James Booth dove from the 2 to send the Red Rebels into the intermission with a 21-14 lead.

The weekly rainstorms that have plagued football Fridays this season made their visit at the start of the second half making for very sloppy conditions.

Harrison Central’s Michael Dye booted a 30-yard field goal in the mud to give the Red Rebels a 24-14 lead with 1:32 remaining in the third quarter. Bradley appeared on his way to his second touchdown when the wet football squirted loose and flew up into the hands of mammoth offensive lineman Wes Rea who promptly took it 15-yards into the end zone for his first touchdown and increased the lead to 31-14.

“I saw the ball fly up in front of me and I grabbed it and ran,” Rea said. “That was my first score, it was pretty good feeling when I saw that ball like that.”

The Panthers speedster, Golson, promptly turned the Red Rebel kickoff into a jaw dropping 100-yard touchdown run to narrow the lead to 31-21.

Harrison Central’s Williams sealed the victory late in the fourth quarter with a 7-yard run to give Harrison Central a 38-20 win.

The Red Rebel defense has held opponents to an average of just 15 points a game while turning in two shutout performances.

“Our defense had done the job all year,” Bradley said.