Chavon Middleton and his Brookhaven teammates had something toprove when they traveled to Forest Hill last Friday night. Couldthey rebound from their most lopsided defeat in recent memory?

Middleton and his Panther teammates righted themselves and upsetForest Hill’s Rebels 31-21. The senior outside linebacker wascredited with a career-best 15 tackles, 9 of them solo stops.

For his performance, Middleton has been named The DAILY LEADER’sDefensive Player of the Week.

Ole Brook head football coach Tucker Peavey recognizedMiddleton’s efforts. “Chavon plays hard every play. He does well incoverage and he’s very consistent.”

Middleton (5-9, 175) sprained his right knee during the game butcontinued playing. The Panthers (4-2, 3-1) capitalized on 6 ForestHill turnovers and they remained in contention for the Region 6-4Atitle.

Middleton is a versatile athlete. He won the district title inthe 300-meter hurdles last spring. He bench presses 265 pounds,squats with 395 and runs a 4.7 in the 40-yard dash.

“Chavon does a lot on special teams,” said Peavey. “He’s on puntand kickoff coverage and punt returns. He doesn’t come off thefield very often.”

Asked about his position on defense, Middleton said he loves toblitz. “You have to know your assignment. Our defense takespractice serious and we work late. I like our coaches.”

Defensive coordinator Kelby Bowman and linebacker coach ChazAllen are newcomers to the BHS staff. Trevor Brister coaches thedefensive line and has been on staff for several years.

Working in the defensive line for the Panthers are Joseph Owens,Cordai Henderson, Laterrius Williams, Jawaun Merchant and MalcolmStewart. At linebacker are Middleton, Isaac Jones, Jacoby Cooperand Renaldo Epps.

In the secondary are Devonte Stewart, IsaiahWilliams and ChrisSeals.

“We wanted to work as a team and play fast,” said Middleton,recalling the Forest Hill game. “We wanted to show that we couldpick it up after Lawrence County,” a 63-21 home field loss.

Middleton said fellow students had questioned the team about thelopsided back. “We had something to prove.”

For Middleton and his senior teammates, Friday’s game againstPort Gibson will be their last homecoming in a BHS uniform. He saidhe hopes to play for Copiah-Lincoln Community College next year andpursue a career in engineering.

His older brother, Dexter, played basketball at Co-Lin. He nowplays for William Carey University in Hattiesburg.

Middleton said he and his teammates would be looking for moreopportunities to make big plays against Port Gibson. In the ForestHill game, Epps returned a Rebel fumble for a touchdown and DevonteStewart intercepted 2 passes.

FAVORITES

Birthday: March 23, 1991

Food: Lasagna

Dessert: Ice cream, cheese cake

TV Show: Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

Movie: Blade II

Subject: Science.

College Team: Florida

NFL Team: New York Giants

NFL Player: Plaxico Burres