Terrence Barron and the Noxubee County High School football team listened all week as coach Tyrone Shorter preached about finishing.
Shorter harped about finishing each day because the Tigers left countless opportunities on the field and failed Saturday to execute in a loss to Spain Park (Ala.) in Hoover Ala.
And while Barron and the Tigers put the loss behind them, they showed Friday night they may have learned how to finish — at least for 24 minutes.
Barron caught a pair of touchdown passes and had another touchdown on a punt return, and Darrell Robinson added a pair of rushing scores as Noxubee County built a big lead and then hung on for a 45-29 victory against New Hope at Trojan Field.
“I feel good about the first half,” Barron said. “I wish we could have let the starters stay in a little longer because (New Hope) scared me a little bit.”
Barron caught touchdown passes of 28 and 32 yards from Deangelo Ballard to help Noxubee County (2-1) open a 45-0 lead early in the third quarter.
“Overall, I am pleased with the first half,” Shorter said. “We did what we wanted to do. The game plan worked to perfection in the first half.”
The execution was a far cry from last week when Noxubee County couldn”t hold a 20-14 lead and suffered from dropped passes and an inability to cash in when it entered the red zone. Barron shouldered part of the blame, saying he dropped a few balls that contributed to the disappointing loss.
On Friday, he said he and the Tigers can take solace in the fact that they “finished” 24 minutes, and would have loved a chance to go a little longer.
“We had a lot of focus this week in practice,” Barron said. “We didn”t play around and were al business. After you learn from your mistakes you just keep going.”
Barron”s punt return made it 14-0 before his 32-yard reception from Ballard went for a score that made it 20-0 with 12.1 seconds to go in the first quarter.
Robinson scored on a 15-yard run and Ballard added a 10-yard scoring run to push the margin to 33-0 with 30.7 seconds to play in the first half.
The onslaught continued in the third quarter, as Robinson scored on a 16-yard run and Eric Hunt added a 5-yard touchdown run with 6:34 to go in the quarter that made it 45-0.
Shorter went to the bench and inserted his second string, which helped kick-start New Hope”s rally. The Trojans (1-1) scored their first points on a 7-yard run by Jameel Johnson and then capitalized on a fumble that Joseph Reeves returned 31 yards for another score.
The touchdowns gave New Hope life even after Shorter re-inserted members of his first-string defense. The Trojans put that defense to the test as Q Newby recovered a fumble by backup quarterback Jessie Bryant that led to a 13-yard touchdown by Johnson. Austin Oswalt”s extra point made it 45-21 with 1 minute, 25 seconds to go in the third quarter.
Horace “Roc” Carr scored on a 1-yard run with 10:04 remaining in the game. E.J. Jenkins” pass to Terrence Payne gave New Hope even more life. The Trojans nearly recovered a second onside kick and had three more scoring chances but couldn”t convert.
“Noxubee County has a very good team,” New Hope coach Michael Bradley said. “I did a very poor job tonight. It was very embarrassing to have some of the weaknesses. I am the head coach and the blame falls on me. I have to do a better job of getting my team ready to play
“There is a difference between knowing you”re going to win and hoping you”re going to win. Noxubee County and programs like that that where they”re used to playing for championships, they come to games expecting to win. That”s what the top programs expect to do. That”s where we have to get to.”
Shorter admitted he should have waited a little longer to take out his first-string players on both side of the ball. He said he never has been one to run up the score and wanted to be careful not to get any of his primary players injured. Still, he second-guessed himself after the game, saying he shouldn”t have taken out entire units and removed only a handful of players at a time on each side of the ball.
“I think I made a big mistake as a coach tonight. I think I subbed too soon,” Shorter said. “They”re a good ballclub, and once they got the momentum going it was hard for us to get back going. I take the blame for it. They have a good ballclub. They didn”t quit. They still felt like they had a chance to come back and win it.”
Barron feels the effort gives the Tigers confidence to know they can compete with anybody, regardless of classification. Noxubee County, a Class 4A school, will get to do that again in the coming weeks when it plays host to Class 3A power Aberdeen and two-time Class 5A defending state champion West Point.
“We could have easily shut them out if the starters or the first team was in,” Barron said. I wish we could have stayed in there. I don”t like to come out of the game. You can build on it a lot because we came out and executed. The second team didn”t come through for us in the second half, but things are going to get better.”
New Hope, a Class 5A school, will travel to Class 6A Columbus next week.
“Our kids didn”t stop fighting,” Bradley said. “I thought there toward the end of the first half we kind of gave them (some things). I don”t want to take anything away from Noxubee County because they”re a great program, but I thought we kind of laid down there toward the end of the first half. I was proud that our guys came out in the second half and fought and played hard. We got a couple of breaks and made the score a lot closer than it really was.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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