Yazoo County sophomore quarterback T.J. Rials is very familiar with the football field at Yazoo City High School. How could he not be?
It had been his home for all of his football life until this season when he transferred to neighboring Yazoo County.
Rials returned last Friday night and turned in a virtuoso performance in leading his Panthers to a 27-6 win over the Indians, to secure the Y-Team Trophy for the third year in a row.
Rials racked up 198 total yards (161 rushing, 37 passsing) and scored three touchdowns against his old mates.
Things started rough for the Indians as running back Cordero McBride fumbled the ball over to the Panthers on the first play from scrimmage.
Rials and company drove down the field all the way inside the Indian five yard line, but the YHS defense denied them entry into the endzone.
After their second possession resulted in a punt, the Panthers were on the move again, driving the ball back into the Indian redzone.
This time, however, Rials would not be denied as he plunged in from two yards out to give the Panthers a 6-0 lead.
The first quarter came to an end with the score the same, but the Panthers were beginning to impose their dominance over the Indians .
With 1:34 remaining in the first half, Rials took a quarterback keeper 79 yards to the house and followed it with an extra point kick to make the scoer 13-0 at the half.
Yazoo County got on the scoreboard again with 5:53 remaining in the third quarter on a four yard Jarrett Jasper run.
The two-point conversion was good, increasing the lead to 21-0.
Rials tacked on the Panthers’ final score in the fourth, on an 18-yard run.
Yazoo City’s lone score came late in he ball game on a touchdown run from quarterback Desmond Johnson.
YCHS head coach Robert Dobbs was pleased with his team’s effort, but also excited to get this one in the books.
“The kids played well after their nerves settled down, you know how it is in a rivalry game,” said Dobbs. “The emotions can get too high sometimes in a game of this magnitude. I’m just glad the players settled down and played our brand of ball. Now that the game is over, we can move forward to the rest of the season.”
Jasper also had 78 rushings yards and Kavontae Jones had 66 yards. Jasper was the leading receiver with 21 yards and Cameron Williams had 16.
