WEST POINT — On a night when things just didn’t seem to want to go right, the West Point High School football team turned to a well-known staple.
Sparked by the work of senior quarterback Tez Lane and junior running back Aeris Williams, the Green Wave delivered a drive for the ages to take the lead.
The result was a 23-17 victory Friday night at McCallister Field that helped West Point (3-2) win the Class 5A, Region 1 opener for both teams.
“We were like we are going to do West Point football,” Lane said. “Coach calls the plays and we just have to run them. All we had to do was stay focused and get the snap and finish our assignments. We did that pretty good and we stayed focused.”
With the game tied at 17 late in the third quarter, West Point had a lapse of focus that nearly cost it. Instead of fielding a bouncing kickoff, several West Point players allowed the ball to creep down to their 1-yard line before they finally fell on it. Backed up to it is goal line, the Green Wave didn’t panic and turned to a running game that gained only 63 yards in the first half and was hampered by fumbles from the center-quarterback exchange.
Buoyed by six runs from Lane and five more from Williams, West Point established a rhythm and gained control of the line of scrimmage. The drive wasn’t without its scary moment, though. Lane averted disaster by recovering one snap that slipped from his hands. Offensive lineman Demondtae Donald recovered another fumble on the next play. The mistakes set up a fourth-and-2 from the West Point 31 with 10 minutes, 41 seconds to play. Lake Cormorant, which committed 12 penalties, proved generous, jumping offsides to give West Point a valuable first down.
West Point hit its stride from there, using a 14-yard gain by Lane on an option keeper. Williams followed with a 28-yard gain on a sweep, moments after West Point coaches yelled “Hurry up” to the offense as the play clock ticked down.
A 5-yard gain by Ladarius Patterson and a 4-yard gain by Lane on an option read set the stage for Williams’ 14-yard touchdown run that proved to be the game-winner. Williams (22 carries, 152 yards) stayed low breaking free at the line of scrimmage before he hurdled a defender halfway through the run en route to paydirt. The score capped a drive that went 14 plays and ate up 5 minutes, 54 seconds.
“We had to get out of that situation,” Williams said. “If we would have missed a block we would have had a safety and we would have been down. We don’t need to be down. We need to keep winning because we need to win a state championship.”
Williams said he has enjoyed taking on the role of the Green Wave’s “go-to” back. Even though the team hasn’t had the results it would have wished for against teams like South Panola and Noxubee County, Williams said the offense still has confidence. He said the development of Lane, a converted running back who has taken over at quarterback, has eased the transition.
“We’re real confident now because we have played against some real tough teams,” Williams said. “He has made a big jump from running back to quarterback. That is big ups to him. I just give it all to him.”
Lane showed a running back’s quickness running the read option. On several occasions, he showed deft footing moving to his right and spinning out of harm’s way. Even though he had only 32 yards rushing Friday, his speed should be a potent complement to Williams, who can beat you with speed or by running through you.
“I am used to it now,” Lane said. “At running back, you come to the ball. At quarterback, you turn around and you have to get your head up quick and you have to look around. You just have to go with what the coach says and run hard.”
Just as Williams has the confidence in his quarterback, Lane said he believes in Williams to get the job done.
“I know when we need a big play he can make it,” Lane said. “I know I can make a big play if we need it. If we have two people who can make plays, they can’t focus on one person.”
West Point coach Chris Chambless praised his offense for adjusting to Lake Cormorant’s strategy of diving in at the line of scrimmage. With so many new faces on offense, he said the tactic put the Green Wave to the test and forced them to find another way to attack the defense.
When tested, though, it always helps to have a trusted stand-by to go to like a running game that you can count on to go 99 yards in clutch time.
“We had to get out (from the goal line),” Chambless said. “The way they were playing us by diving up underneath us, you risk a fumbled snaps and you risk a lot of things. We’re a running football team, and everybody in the state knows we’re going to run at you and then we pop a big play. It worked out well.
“We were able to win a close one. That is something two times we weren’t able to do, but we were able to do it tonight against a good football team.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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