Late in the second quarter, Hattiesburg called a trick play as quarterback Deuce Vance threw a lateral pass to wide receiver Tomaz Barnes. Barnes promptly found a wide-open Joel Vaugn for a 23-yard touchdown to ensure a running clock in the second half and set up a 42-14 victory for the Tigers.
“I’m excited with the way we played, especially in the first half,” Hattiesburg coach Tony Vance said. “I thought we did some things really well on offense. The defense did a great job creating turnovers. It was huge for us, giving us some short fields. It was a great team effort tonight. I thought we shored up some things in the kicking game that allowed us to play better overall.”
Although the play was the highlight of the night, the Tiger defense forced four interceptions in the first half while its offense put up over 300 yards of total offense. Spearheading the offensive effort was a 3-touchdown performance by quarterback Deuce Vance, along with running back Tavares Wade, as he ran for 133 yards and two scores in the first half.
“(Wade) is a grown man,” Sumrall coach Shannon White said. “He’s a grown man. He’s very physical, explosive, and can change directions. He has good vision, too.
“Vance is a heck of a quarterback. We all knew these things heading into it.”
In the last two weeks, Hattiesburg’s offense has put 95 points as the Tigers have now won back-to-back games and improved to 3-2.
“I think it’s kids just getting more experience and learning,” said Vance on what has been different the last weeks. “That’s part of it. We knew we were young in some spots. We still have a couple of guys that are injured that we have to get well and back on the field. That’ll allow us to do more things on the defensive side ball.”
The Tigers’ offense didn’t get started until after its first drive, as they went three-and-out to open the game. Hattiesburg responded with a quick 6-play, 63-yard drive that ended with Wade scoring on a 1-yard run to give the Tigers a 6-0 lead.
Sumrall (3-2) looked to have some momentum as quarterback Landon Hawkins completed an 18-yard completion on third and long but on the next set of downs was intercepted by Anthony Pounce. It was the first of three straight drives that Hawkins was picked off. Hattiesburg’s offense made quick work with a 25-yard run by Wade setting up an 11-yard touchdown pass by Deuce Vance to Barnes. Vance finished the game 8 of 11 and threw for 96 yards and two touchdowns while running for 97 yards and a score on six carries.
After Hawkins’ third pick, Vance took off for a 59-yard touchdown to push the lead to 20-0 in the second quarter. The Tigers’ final touchdown before the late trick play was Wade’s second score of the game. Wade, who had a 48-yard run on the drive, scored from 11 yards out on fourth-and-one.
“That’s Tavares Wade,” Vance said. “He’s been that way since I’ve been coaching. He does a great job of running hard. That’s what you’ll get from him. He’ll be the first to tell you that he’s not the biggest and not the fastest, but he has that dog in him.”
Hawkins went 5 of 19 in the first half, throwing four interceptions and 62 yards. In addition, for a third straight week, Sumrall was without starting running back Trevor Daniels, which resulted in the Bobcats rushing for just five yards in the first half.
“We’ll look at the film,” White said. “It was just another rough night for us. We put our defense in a rough spot. They are good. Hattiesburg has a really good team, but I thought we would compete a little better than that. But we didn’t.”
Hattiesburg maintained momentum after halftime, with Vance throwing a 33-yard touchdown to James Adams to build a 42-0 lead.
Hawkins found a spark in the fourth quarter as he connected with Jonathan Nelson for a 33-yard touchdown. Sumrall’s second touchdown came right after Hattiesburg’s second-string offense had a bad snap and set up a scoop and score for Tyler Albert. However, with a running clock, Sumrall’s late effort killed any chance for a comeback. Sumrall will now prepare for region play as the Bobcats host Lawrence County next week.
“Lawrence County comes to the house,” White said. “It’s the second season. We are kind of ending the first part of the season on a sour note. We have to find some answers, and that’s my job. We have to get some things fixed, whatever that means and whatever that takes to do. We have to make sure that gets done by next week.”
Hattiesburg will travel to face George County to close out region play.
“Obviously, they have a quarterback next week,” Vance said. “It’s going to be an exciting game down in Lucedale.”
Follow @PineBeltSPORTS on Twitter.
