WEST POINT — West Point High School junior tailback Tez Lane readily admits his team struggled through the first four weeks of the prep football season.
Lane also readily admits those struggles are in the past.
Behind a three-touchdown night from Lane, West Point ran its win streak to four straight games with a 47-7 Class 5A, Region 1 win against Saltillo on Friday night at McCallister Field.
“In the early part of the year we took the good with the bad,” Lane said. “One thing I can say about this team is they never got down. Each week we came back and tried to a work a little bit harder. The bad times are in the past now. We are getting ready for the second season.
“This team wants to be playing its best when it matters the most.”
West Point (5-3, 4-0 region) scored on its first six possessions Friday night. The Green Wave had little trouble in building a 34-0 halftime advantage. The Green Wave only committed one turnover, while rolling up 442 yards of offense.
“We set some goals for what we wanted to do as a team this week,” West Point coach Chris Chambless said. “That was the first time this year we did that. The players reminded the coaches during the game about some of the goals that we set. We haven’t done a good job of preaching team goals. All of that has changed now.
“We are really focused in at what we have to do for the rest of the season.”
In recent play, the two-time defending Class 5A state champion West Point has totally dominated inside its region. The Green Wave has not lost a region game in the past three seasons. The four region wins this year have come by an average margin of 24 points per game.
“Our DBs have really stepped it up since the first week of the season,” said West Point junior cornerback Nelson McIntosh, who had an interception for one of his squad’s two takeaways. “As a defense, we have really improved a lot. At the beginning of the year, we had a bunch of young guys playing around trying to fill into spots. As the defense has matured, it has gotten a whole lot better.
“We take pride in playing defense. We want to dominate the other team. Inside region play, it has really sunk in. We know now the attitude and the focus that we have to have if we want to three-peat.”
West Point moved the opening possession of the game 65 yards on five plays. Lane plowed in from five yards out. The next drive lasted just two plays. After an incompletion, Spraggins hit Aeris Williams on a 63-yard touchdown.
The third possession was West Point’s best march of the night. The Green Wave moved 81 yards on seven plays in just slightly more than two minutes. The key play on the drive was a 55-yard hookup from Spraggins to Jerry Randle. Lane ran the first-quarter lead to 21-0 on his second five-yard touchdown run.
“We knew we had to play big tonight,” said Lane, who ran eight times for 85 yards. “We knew who we were playing but we still treat every opponent the same way. We were talking in the field house before the game about how important this game was. It was Homecoming and we were really hyped up.
“There were a lot of people here. They came to watch us, so we had to stay on our tasks.”
In the second quarter, the Green Wave put another strong march together. This time, West Point moved 80 yards on seven plays. Williams ripped off a 22-yard run as a prelude to Lane’s 28-yard scoring jaunt.
On the next possession, West Point moved 54 yards on three plays. Randle caught a 4-yard touchdown pass from Spraggins. The conversion failed and the Green Wave led 34-0 at the intermission.
By that time, the West Point defense was well on its way to a masterpiece. Saltillo (2-5 overall, 0-4 region) was held to minus-30 yards rushing on 21 carries. Saltillo did finish with 133 total yards, thanks in part to a 72-yard touchdown from Chase Watson to A.J. Hunt in the closing minutes of the contest.
“We practiced hard all week,” West Point junior defensive back Antreon Bennett said. “It showed out here on the field tonight. We came in and worked hard this whole week. Inside region play, we got more focused. We have done a good job of coming out and executing.
“We have to keep this up if we want to keep winning.”
In the opening possession of the second half, Spraggins capped a 45-yard, 3-play drive with a 25-yard touchdown run. On the very next snap, Saltillo fumbled, with Bennett rambling nine yards with the recovery for a touchdown, pushing the advantage to 47-0 in the early stages of the third quarter.
West Point finished with 14 first downs and 275 rushing yards. Spraggins finished 5-of-8 passing for 167 yards, with 77 rushing yards on three rushes. The Green Wave did commit eight penalties for 65 yards.
Next week, West Point visits Center Hill, while Saltillo hosts Oxford in another set of region games.
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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