HATTIESBURG – Another Friday night, another blowout win for the Hattiesburg Tigers. This time Hattiesburg handed Wayne County a 49-6 loss, which moves it to 8-0 overall and 4-0 in Region 4-5A.
Senior running back Drexlan Allen, who led the team with 128 rushing yards and a pair of scores on 14 carries, said the score could have been worse than it was. Entering Friday night, the Tigers were beating region foes by an average of 40 points, and they exceeded that number Friday once again.
“We didn’t finish,” he said. “It could have been worse but we weren’t finishing our drives.”
PHOTO GALLERY: Click for photos for from Matt Bush.
Saying that, Hattiesburg scored touchdowns on seven of its 10 possessions. But, it was doing it at a slightly slower pace than last week. The Tigers began the night with a quick five-play scoring drive, which started near midfield after Wayne County failed to pick up a first down on fourth-and-1 from its own 40. Senior quarterback Jarod Conner scored his first of three rushing touchdowns to cap it off.
Allen added his first touchdown on the next possession, running the ball around the left side from the 11-yard line. That gave Hattiesburg a 14-6 lead and it never looked back from there. Conner scored a 6-yard score on the team’s third drive, but a fumble and a turnover on downs cut the final two drives of the first half short for Hattiesburg.
In the third quarter, Conner added his third rushing touchdown and a passing score to push the Tigers ahead 28-6 before the War Eagles could even have the ball. After Hattiesburg ran down the field on the first drive of the second half, it recovered an onside kick to set up Conner’s lone passing touchdown. Allen found pay dirt on the team’s third drive of the half, and sophomore Courtland Harris scored in the fourth quarter to finish it off.
On the three possessions the Tigers didn’t score, they fumbled, turned it over on downs and they punted less than a minute to go in the game.
The Tigers are making it look easy eight games into the season, but winning doesn’t get old. It doesn’t matter how easy it seems to be, the taste of victory is always sweet for Allen and the Tigers.
“That’s the game plan every week – to win,” Allen said.
As a senior leader, he has to make sure his teammates are locked in at practice so they don’t get complacent. There’s no doubt winning is fun, but blowout win after blowout win could make a team comfortable during the week.
“It starts on Monday,” Allen said. “Just getting in their head, telling them what the game plan is and telling them how focused we have to be because we’re going to get reminded by the coaches every day about how to come through every week and play every game. It’s really just a mental thing.”
On top of Allen’s big night, it was also his birthday.
“I come into every game expecting a good game, but whatever I have, I have,” he said. “It’s just God blessing me that I have a game on my birthday.”
Defensively, the Tigers forced three turnovers and held a run-heavy offense to just six points. Wayne County recorded 212 rushing yards on 41 carries, though, but when it came down to making the stop, the Tigers delivered.
On the War Eagles’ first drive of the game, Hattiesburg had a fourth-and-1 stop near midfield. After Wayne County scored its only touchdown, the Tigers forced back-to-back punts before ending the first half with an interception by Anthony Bullock.
In the third quarter, Wayne County didn’t even touch the ball until the 7:16 mark. It moved down the field on 12 straight run plays, but Hattiesburg senior Jaren Handy forced a fumble at the Hattiesburg 7-yard line. The Tigers forced two more three-and-outs to close out the contest.
Wayne County quarterback Zhakerreun Wesley led the offense with 124 rushing yards and a touchdown on 17 carries, and his touchdown came on a 40-yard read-option play.
“I thought (Wayne County) did a good job of executing their game plan coming in,” Hattiesburg coach Tony Vance said. “Hats off to (Wayne County) coach (Shelton) Gandy and his coaching staff. His guys came out. We knew their quarterback was a load and he proved that tonight.”
Hattiesburg will put its undefeated record to the test this week, as it welcomes Picayune.
