MACON — After a sloppy first half, Tyrone Shorter needed someone to give the Noxubee County High School football team an edge.
Deveon Ball was happy to oblige.
As Columbus entered the red zone early in the third quarter, Ball saw the football thrown to the flat and broke for it.
“It’s indescribable with words,” a smiling Ball said after the game. “I saw the ball in the air and I went and got it. I’m a DB, and that’s what I’m supposed to do, so I went and got the ball and tried to take it back for six.”
Forty-five yards later, Ball had given the Tigers the ball on the Falcons’ 30-yard line. Noxubee County then capitalized when senior defensive line standout Jeffery Simmons, widely considered the state’s top recruit, lined up at fullback and scored on a 1-yard run. The score gave the reigning 4A state champions a two-possession lead that they built on en route to a 25-8 victory against Class 6A Columbus.
“I knew we had to make a play,” Shorter said. “I was just waiting on somebody to make a play, and Deveon came in with that big interception. I think that was the momentum-changer and got us going.”
Neither offense could get going early. The Falcons were able to run the ball in the first half with Kylin Hill, but Noxubee County forced six turnovers. Ball added two fumble recoveries and a touchdown-saving tackle to his effort.
“Once they came out and started running the ball down our throats, we had to get together and play as a team,” Ball said.
Noxubee County’s defense regrouped at halftime and began to take its toll on Columbus’ offensive line. Simmons wrecked havoc, making 14 tackles, including three and a half for loss, registering one and a half sacks, and blocking a punt.
Simmons also made his mark on offense in the second half. He caught a 33-yard touchdown pass from Timorrius Conner to cap the Tigers’ scoring.
“Jeff could be one of the best tight ends in the state if we needed him to be,” Shorter said. “He’s just a gifted, gifted talent, and we played him a lot of different ways, a lot of positions to get him involved. We thought we had to put him on offense tonight just to get some stuff going because he’s just that talented.”
Simmons said he wasn’t supposed to be in the game for his fourth-quarter punt block, but he told his coaches to let him make a play. Despite making his way into the stat sheet in every way, Simmons said his team was too sloppy out the gate.
“We did have a rough week of practice,” Simmons said. “Nobody focused coming off of Starkville. We can’t do that coming off a big win like that. We’re used to winning, and we have to act like it. ”
Despite the second-straight victory against a Class 6A opponent, Shorter didn’t see everything he wanted to from his squad Friday. He said his team was unfocused following a 26-20 double-overtime victory against Starkville last week.
“We did OK,” Shorter said, “I kind of felt like we were going to play this way because we were coming off a big win last week and the guys were so intense last week. We’re so banged up. We had three starters that didn’t play tonight.
“Our week at practice was a bad week. I just felt like we weren’t going to play our best tonight. But we found a way to get the job done, and our defense kept us in the ball game. ”
A unique challenge awaits the Tigers’ defense. Noxubee County will board a bus Wednesday and ride 500 miles to Aledo, Texas, to begin preparations for its game at 7 p.m. Friday against Aledo High, the state of Texas’ reigning 5A champion.
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