The Indians of Yazoo City will enter the playoffs as the number three seed from their district after edging out Rosa Fort 28-27 on Thursday night.
The win brought Yazoo City’s final regular season record to 6-4.
Rosa Fort provided the Indians with a number of challenges in what was a tale of two halves.
In the first half of the game, the offenses were on full display.
According to Yazoo City head football coach Timothy Johnson, it was difficult to stop the offenses in the first half of the game.
“It was a shootout early,” Johnson said. “We drew first blood, and then they came back. It was like that for a while in the first half until they took a lead.”
At the half, the Indians were down 27-14 and needed a spark to mount a comeback.
The spark that propelled the Indians forward was not a position change or a trick play or a series of shouts by the coach.
In fact, it was the opposite of those things.
Johnson feels that the spark was trust and belief, something that the Indians have not always received in the locker room.
“We didn’t change our game plan,” Johnson said. “Our guys are so used to being down at the half and having fingers pointed at them and having their whole plans changed. I hate blaming kids. It’s something I never want to do. These kids don’t respond to that. They play at their best when they’re loose and relaxed, and that’s a way I’ve never coached because I’m aggressive by nature. But I have trust in them, and they have trust in the coaching staff. That’s led to success.”
The Indians stormed back in the third quarter and scored to cut Rosa Fort’s lead.
In the fourth quarter, Yazoo City took a 28-27 lead, which would eventually become the final score.
In first start at quarterback since he was injured, Roncedrick Weekly completed 10-of-17 passes for 217 yards and a touchdown. He also added 201 yards and two touchdowns on 18 rushing attempts.
Senior running back Jared Waters rushed for 193 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries.
Tommy Washington led the receivers with six catches for 103 yards and a touchdown.
Percy Green caught two passes for 71 yards, while Rorecoss Willis hauled in two passes for 36 yards. Willis also had four total tackles and an interception.
Malik Clark led the Indians with six total tackles in the win.
Javarious Grady had five total tackles, one of which was for a loss, and a sack.
Torey Haymer racked up five total tackles, one of which was for loss.
The playoff run for Yazoo City will begin at Ripley on Friday night.
Ripley is 5-5 on the season after dismantling New Albany 22-0 in the regular season finale this past Friday night.
Johnson is excited about what his team has done so far, but he sees a team on the upcoming schedule that looks a lot like his own.
“I couldn’t be more happy for our guys, but we aren’t done,” Johnson said. “We’ve got our first playoff game since 2008 on Friday. I think Ripley is sort of the equivalent of us. They play hard and have a great quarterback. They’ve been really hot in the second half of the season. They run the ball more than us, but they can throw the ball. We’ll need to force turnovers to keep their offense off the field.”
Kickoff at Ripley is set for 7 p.m.
