JACKSON - Hattiesburg began region play in a big way.
Behind the duo of Gavin Ducksworth and Davion Young the Tigers used a big second quarter to shutout Jim Hill 43-0 at North Jackson Field on Thursday night in their Region 3-6A opener.
“I challenged our guys to come out and play hard. I didn’t care about the scoreboard I cared about how we performed,” said Hattiesburg coach Kendall Lacey. “We had to set the tone for our region slate and we finally got a shutout. We challenged the guys all year to get a shutout and excited to see that happen.”
The Tigers scored on their opening drive of the game as Ducksworth found Young on a 21-yard touchdown pass to take a 6-0 lead with 7:31 left in the first quarter.
Hattiesburg added a safety to extend their lead to 8-0 with 5:20 left in the first quarter.
The second quarter was the difference.
Ducksworth found Young again from 60 yards with 9:38 left to extend the Hattiesburg lead to 15-0.
Ducksworth again connected to Young on a 65-yard touchdown pass to stretch the lead to 22-0.
The Tigers recorded another safety to take a 24-0.
Ducksworth then found Tennessee commit Tristan Keys on a 22-yard touchdown pass to give Hattiesburg a 31-0 lead.
After Jim Hill turned the ball over on downs Ducksworth hit Bralyn Albritton on a 7-yard touchdown to give the Tigers a 37-0 lead and enhance the running clock.
In the third quarter Albritton threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Davion Johnson to give Hattiesburg the 43-0 lead.
Ducksworth finished 9-of-18 passing for 201 yards and five touchdowns to lead Hattiesburg (4-2, 1-0 Region 3-6A).
“We know we have a bunch of explosive weapons on offense and that’s one thing we will always have, so the object is to get them the ball in space and get them the ball so they can be dynamic,” Lacey said. “Everyone knows about Tristan Keys, but we got about three or four guys that can do the same thing we they get the opportunity and Davion Young showed out tonight. Every week the goal is to be 1-0, so we have to continue to take the steps to get to where we want to be.”
Young finished with three catches for 146 yards and three touchdowns for the Tigers.
“We’ve been preparing all week, and we knew they were going to play man, so we had to do just one part of 11 and if everybody did their one part of 11 we were going to have a good game and that’s what happened,” Young said. “Quarterback was able to get on the same page as the receivers in the second quarter and we’ve been on the same page all week, so it was just matter of time when it’ll click. We have to use this win as a momentum heading into practice and got to comeback up here next week.”
