The Yazoo City Indians pulled something off this past Friday night that they haven’t been able to do in quite some time. They were victorious in their season opener. With a dominant, three-touchdown performance from senior running back Tobias McGee, the Indians cruised to a 36-12 win over the Humphreys County Cowboys.
“This is the first time since I’ve been here that we started off 1-0 so this is a good feeling,” said YHS head coach Justin Washington. “We have a very tough opponent next week in Holmes County, so getting this first win is definitely a plus.”
Motivation was also a key factor for the Indians this year as they wanted to erase the feeling of last season’s opening loss to the Cowboys.
“Last year they beat us 28-16 and we were up 16-12 in fourth quarter. We gave up a few big plays late and they kinda wore us down,” said Washington. “So tonight, when we went in at halftime with a convincing lead, we just wanted to say make sure we finish this one. We just continued to harp on that throughout the second half that the game was not over. The guys listened and we got it done.”
The Indian defense started things off Friday night, forcing a safety at the 7:17 mark of the first quarter for a 2-0 lead. The Indian offense followed that up with a 17-yard touchdown pass from Tyler Taylor to McGee with 3:13 left to play in the first quarter, giving them an 8-0 lead after one quarter.
Midway through the second half the Indians scored again on a one-yard pass from Taylor to Jaleen Barber for a 16-0 lead. Humphreys County answered back with their first score of the night on a 60-yard run. The two-point conversion failed, and Yazoo City led 16-6.
With 1:36 left in the half, McGee scored his second touchdown of the night when he zigged and zagged his way to a 40-yard touchdown that electrified the Indian faithful. The two-point conversion was failed, but the Indians took a 22-6 lead into halftime.
The Indian defense provided the next score for the Indians to open the second half at the 3:14 mark when Jaleen Barber recovered a Cowboy fumble in the endzone, giving the Indians a 30-6 advantage.
Humphreys County tacked on one more score on a five-yard run and McGee scored his final touchdown of the night with 6:46 left to play on a 17-yard run.
As a team, the Indians rushed 25 times for 131 yards and two touchdowns. McGee led all rushers with 78 yards on eight carries. D.J. Harris had nine carries for 32 yards, Taylor had seven carries for 18 yards and Marquez Green had three yards on one carry.
Taylor completed 5-of-11 passes for 39 yards and two TD’s. McGee was the leading receiver with three receptions for 22 yards. Harris had one catch for 16 yards and Jaleen Barber had one catch for one yard.
Defensively, Deion Johnson led the Indians with 6.5 tackles and a fumble recovery. Johnny Barber had five tackles, Jaleen Barber (fumble recovery) and Green each had three tackles, and Maurice Booker, Kenyon Coleman and Zakabrin Taylor (forced fumble) had two tackles apiece.
All told, the Indian defense had a forced fumble and three fumble recoveries much to the delight of Washington, who expects the defense to lead the way this season.
“We’ve got 7-8 guys on our defense that are three-year players so it’s a very veteran group. Our defensive line gets off the ball and they are very fast. With Deion Johnson and Johnny Barber in the middle, they are very strong and fast so if we can continue to have them unblocked, we like our chances.”
Yazoo City travels to Holmes County this Friday for a kickoff set for 7 p.m.
