County schools show improvement

Published 5:02 pm Tuesday, August 22, 2017

It was an interesting week of football for the four county schools within Lincoln County.

The Bogue Chitto Bobcats picked up their first win in the regular season since October of 2015 and Enterprise rallied for an overtime win at home against Salem to start off the 2017 campaign.

Under new head coaches and a new direction, West Lincoln and Loyd Star could not come away with victories to open up the season, but showed promise on opening night.

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While all four schools couldn’t start the season with a win, each team showed potential in what they could become in the rest of the season.

Bogue Chitto

The Bogue Chitto Bobcats used a strong ground attack to run by the McLaurin Tigers Thursday night at Copiah-Lincoln Community College to pick up their first win in almost two years.

The Bobcats rushed for 336 yards, led by the efforts of junior Lafredrick Dillon. Dillon was the biggest rushing threat Thursday night for the Bobcats and totaled 147 yards on 12 carries with one touchdown. Freshman Owen Anderson rushed 59 yards on six carries with two touchdowns and junior Demarcus Godbolt rushed for 60 yards on eight carries.

Senior quarterback Trey Nettles contributed on the ground 44 yards and two touchdowns as well. Nettles went 7-for-14 passing for 53 yards and one interception.

The Bogue Chitto offense can put up some big numbers. Led by that offense and experience on defense led by senior Eli Wallace and junior Warrick Cook, things could be turning around for the Bobcats.

The team is off this week before they hit the road to face Wesson.

Enterprise

Trailing 20-6 entering the fourth quarter, the Enterprise Yellow Jackets needed a valiant effort on both sides of the ball in order to stage a comeback.

They got that effort on both offense and defense

Enterprise outscored Salem 22-0 in the fourth quarter and overtime to come away with an impressive 28-20 victory to open 2017.

Leading the way was senior running back Tanner Waldrop, who scored the game-tying touchdown and the go-ahead score in overtime to seal the deal.

The defense stepped it up big time in the fourth quarter and overtime, led by seniors Danny Thomas, Kail Jordan and Trestin Green.

A win like that can go a long way for Enterprise the rest of the season. They’ll face Puckett at home Friday night.

West Lincoln

West Lincoln got off to a hot start in its first game under head coach BJ Smithhart Friday night with a 14-0 lead over Mount Olive in the first quarter.

The Bears couldn’t hold on, as the team was out-scored 26-6 after that lead and dropped their season opener 26-20.

Senior Chase Owen did everything for West Lincoln with a passing, rushing and receiving touchdown in the game, but the heroic effort wasn’t enough. Owen led the team with 149 total yards of offense.

Smithhart and West Lincoln showed potential for a great season, but the team needs to learn how to finish games and play the complete four quarters of regulation.

Senior Julian Anderson and sophomore Michael Brothern made big plays on both sides of the ball Friday night as well.

The talent is there, but the team needs to finish down the stretch.

Loyd Star

Trailing 15-0 in the first quarter, the Loyd Star Hornets cut the game to 15-14 in the second quarter, but the scoring stopped there.

The Crusaders scored the next 20 point in the game and defeated Loyd Star by a score of 35-14.

Senior running back Patrick Price did everything he could to keep the Hornets in the game, but he’ll need more help for Loyd Star to reel off some wins this season.

Senior linebacker Kline Foster shined on defense and made plays left and right, but the unit as a whole gave up too many explosive plays against a good Sacred Heart offense.

Getting players ready and healthy will be the key for first-year head coach Brian Ford if he wants his team to get back on track.