HAMILTON — The Hamilton High School football team came on like gangbusters in the second half Friday night and pulled away to rout Weir 42-0 in the season opener for both teams.
The game was scoreless after the opening quarter and Hamilton led 7-0 at halftime before erupting for three touchdowns in the third quarter and two touchdowns and a field goal in the fourth quarter.
It was Hamilton”s highest-scoring game since beating Alcorn Central 48-14 on Sept. 29, 2006, as the Lions cruised past Weir, which has won six Class A state championships.
“This was a big win for our program,” Hamilton High coach Ray Weeks said. “The guys played hard and they played together. If we can continue to do that I think we”ve got a chance to be pretty good and win some football games.”
Cojuante McMillian started the scoring in the second quarter with a 5-yard run.
The Lions pulled away in the third quarter when Zarrett Sims scored on a 25-yard run, Austin Welch scored on a 1-yard run, and Brandon Fikes scored on a 20-yard run.
Hamilton completed the rout in the fourth quarter when Fikes scored on a 2-yard run, Will Logan scored on a 14-yard run, and John Alvo, an exchange student from Spain, kicked a 32-yard field goal.
McMillian led the Lions in rushing with 62 yards on seven carries. Deion Howard had 58 yards on six attempts, Sims had 60 yards on 10 tries, Fikes had 52 yards on four carries, and Logan had 49 yards on three carries, as the Lions amassed 287 yards rushing on 41 attempts.
McMillian led the defense with eight tackles, while Welch had seven and Cole Gill and Dominique Dobbs added six apiece.
n Ruleville Central 28, Caledonia 7: At Ruleville, The Confederates committed six turnovers to spoil the debut of head coach Ricky Kendrick.
Caledonia fumbled three times and had three passes intercepted in a 28-7 setback to the Ruleville Central Tigers on Friday.
Ruleville capitalized on back-to-back turnovers to take a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. Caledonia fumbled on its first play from scrimmage and that led to a score. The Confederates then drove to the Tigers” 14-yard line only to have the Tigers intercept a pass in the end zone and return it for a touchdown.
Ruleville led 22-0 at the end of the opening period.
Caledonia scored its touchdown in the third quarter on junior Tyler Lowe”s 60-yard run.
“After we got over the shock of the first quarter, it was a football game,” Kendrick said. “Our kids battled back and worked hard. I was proud of the kids for the way they battled. They didn”t give up.”
Caledonia, which has lost 20 games in a row dating back to the first game of the 2008 season, will play at Saltillo on Thursday.
n Hatley 41, Immanuel Christian 6: At Hatley, the Rams scored first and then didn”t score again to suffer a loss to the Tigers.
Michael Pate got the Rams on the scoreboard first when he scored on a 7-yard run in the opening quarter.
Hatley”s Cody Taylor scored three touchdowns, including one on a 50-yard run.
Pate was Immanuel”s leading rusher with 46 yards on 14 carries.
After trailing only 7-6 at the end of the first quarter, the Rams trailed 27-6 at halftime and 41-6 after the third quarter.
Immanuel lost despite running 53 plays compared to just 32 for Hatley.
Jeremy Davidson had eight tackles and a fumble recovery to lead Immanuel. Norris Harris, Wesley Lake, and James Wriley each had three tackles.
Immanuel will play an eight-man game Friday when it travels to Central Academy.
n Central Academy 20, Franklin Academy 6: At Winnsboro, La., Cole Newman scored all three of his team”s touchdowns in leading the Vikings to a season-opening victory.
Newman scored in the first, third, and fourth quarters.
Ferris McGuire ran for a two-point conversion after Newman”s first touchdown for the Vikings” other points.
The Vikings made it to the game despite their bus breaking down an hour and a half from Winnsboro.
n Montgomery County 20, East Oktibbeha 8: At Crawford, the Titans avoided being shut out when they scored in the fourth quarter.
The Titans scored on a 1-yard pass from Marlon Fair to Chris Hunter.
Hunter was East Oktibbeha”s leading rusher with 65 yards and Fair rushed for 40 yards.
Monte Horsley led East Oktibbeha with 11 tackles and three sacks, while Terrance Rice had nine tackles, and Arthur Gillespie and Juan Roberts each had an interception.
East Oktibbeha will try again for its first win of the season Friday when it plays rival West Lowndes.
n East Webster 35, South Pontotoc 14: At Pontotoc, Demetrius O”Briant and Ledrick Patterson scored all of the Wolverines” touchdowns in the season-opening road victory.
O”Briant scored on runs of 26, 17, and 2 yards, and Patterson scored on runs of 2 and 14 yards.
East Webster pulled away in the second half after the game was tied at 7 at halftime.
East Webster”s next game is Friday at home against West Oktibbeha.
n Northwest Rankin 22, Louisville 14: At Brandon, the Wildcats started the game with 14 unanswered points in the opening quarter and then didn”t score again to spoil the debut of head coach M.C. Miller.
Louisville took a 14-0 lead in the first seven minutes on a 12-yard pass from Wyatt Roberts to Blake Cunningham and a 2-yard run by Davis Schaffer.
Northwest Rankin pulled within 14-7 on a 1-yard quarterback sneak by Bo Thomason and tied the score 14-14 on a touchdown pass by Reid Humphries.
In the second half it was all Northwest Rankin”s Kurterius Taylor, who had 87 of his 158 yards and scored on a 7-yard run in the third quarter.
Louisville will try to get Miller his first win as the coach of the Wildcats on Friday when it plays host to Starkville.
n Newton County Academy 38, Hebron Christian 0: At Decatur, the Eagles couldn”t recover from two big plays and were shut out in their season opener.
Hebron Christian, which trailed 32-0 at halftime, had a pass intercepted and returned for a touchdown and had a punt returned for a score.
Marquez Robinson led Hebron Christian with 50 yards rushing and 5 yards receiving.
Will Corbin Rogers and Kevin Simmons each had seven tackles to lead the defense.
Hebron Christian will play DeSoto School at Friday in its home opener.
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