Yazoo City has already won more games than their 2016 counterparts with their 38-6 win over John F. Kennedy in the season-opener.
Newly-hired head coach Timothy Johnson and his staff awakened an insatiable hunger in the group that had lain dormant for years, waiting patiently to rise up.
The result was a shockwave across Yazoo County, a ringing alarm that proclaimed the Indians were back.
Johnson felt a lot of pride after the game.
“I’m extremely proud of the effort,” Johnson said. “We didn’t start off as hot as we wanted. When things start to go wrong for some losing teams, they start pointing fingers at each other. We didn’t do that. We kept our composure and focus, and we played fast.”
Roncedrick Weekly was an offensive monster against the Hornets, going 8-for-13 through the air for 187 yards and one touchdown and rushing for 107 yards and two touchdowns on only seven carries. He also ran in two 2-point conversion attempts.
And while his numbers were great, Johnson believes they could have been even better if he hadn’t made a rookie coaching error.
“I take fault for Roncedrick not having even greater numbers,” Johnson said. “We pulled up to the game at 6, and it started at 7. We were running late. That’s my fault. We went out on offense first. I feel if he had time to go through his normal warm-up he could have put up maybe 50 points. He went through his progressions well and played a good game. I’m very proud of him.”
Sophomore Jayden Stewart also had a big rushing game, going 103 yards on 12 carries with one touchdown.
Jared Waters rushed for 62 yards and a score on only five carries.
Rorecoss Willis caught four passes for 80 yards and a score, while Tommy Washington caught three passes for 87 yards.
The Indians held Kennedy to a mere seven first downs in the dominating win.
Jordan Cole led the way with 12 tackles.
Parviz King burst onto the scene with 10 tackles, six sacks, a quarterback hurry, and a fumble recovery.
Javarious Grady was right behind him with eight tackles, four sacks, a fumble recovery, and a safety.
Ezekial Reason had two tackles and a sack.
Deshaun Taylor had four tackles, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, and a blocked punt.
Torey Haymer recorded three tackles and three forced fumbles.
Jordain Terry picked off a pass in the win.
The Indians will attempt to win their first back-to-back games in years on Friday when they travel to Belzoni to face Humphreys County.
Humphreys County is 0-1 after falling to South Delta 30-0.
Despite their slow start, Humphreys has had recent success against Yazoo City, but Johnson believes this is a new team and a new day.
“They will come out and give us their best shot,” Johnson said. “They beat this team the last two years. They will probably come out and think this is the same team. We are not. We are totally focused on them. Some people believe we will be focused on Yazoo County, but that isn’t the case. Our biggest opponent is the next one. We left a lot of points on the board this past week, and we look to correct that.”
Kickoff between the Cowboys and Indians will be at 7 p.m.
