After dropping their first game of the season to Germantown, the Panthers of Yazoo County roared back this week with a 52-20 win over Richland.
While the Panthers ended up winning in blowout fashion, the early portion of the game was a battle.
Yazoo County outscored Richland 13-6 in the first quarter, and they were able to extend the lead to 19-6 in the second quarter with a touchdown.
But right before the half, Richland cut Yazoo County’s lead to 19-13 with a touchdown pass.
Yazoo County head football coach Robert Dobbs was not thrilled with the effort his team demonstrated in the first half.
“I told our kids at the half that they have to come out with passion in every game,” Dobbs said. “We can’t overlook any team. We have to step up and bring our A game every half.”
In the second half, things were much different.
The Panthers’ defense picked up, and they started gashing Richland with big runs.
Yazoo County scored for the first time in the second half with 4:42 remaining in the third quarter, and they scored one more touchdown to make it a 32-13 at the end of the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Yazoo County scored three more touchdowns to Richland’s one, making the final 52-20.
Using the differences in effort and outcome in the two halves, Dobbs hopes that the game will be a teaching moment.
“I hope it was an eye-opening experience for our guys,” Dobbs said. “We came out and played our brand of football in the second half, Yazoo County football, which is smash mouth. Once we started playing physical football, you could see the difference.”
Devarrio Sanders had a monster game for Yazoo County in the win.
He rushed for 134 yards and four touchdowns on only nine attempts (14.9 yards per attempt).
Not to be outdone, junior Cherokee Edwards put up 174 yards and two touchdowns of his own on the ground on 13 carries.
Kenneth Gainwell, the starting quarterback for Yazoo County, had his best game of the season on Friday night against Richland.
Gainwell went 4-for-7 through the air for 64 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
Gainwell also rushed for 128 yards and two scores on only seven carries (18.3 yards per carry).
Terrance Milsap caught a 38-yard touchdown.
On the defensive end, Curtis Bullock had a game for the ages, racking up 23 tackles with a sack.
To ensure that Bullock was going to be in the best possible position to make plays, Dobbs moved his athlete from outside linebacker to middle linebacker.
The move was highly successful.
“What can I say?” Dobbs asked in reference to his linebacker’s ability. “He made a lot of plays for us. We moved him from outside linebacker to inside linebacker, and he made plays from sideline to sideline and in the backfield. Teams had been trying to run to the opposite side of him when he was at outside linebacker, so we tried moving him for a little while. He will still play both positions moving forward.”
Kenderian Dixon was behind Bullock with 14 total tackles, and Jay Thomas finished third with 10 tackles.
Yazoo County will try and keep their newfound momentum going on Friday night when they travel to face Cleveland High.
The Wildcats are 1-2 this year after falling 58-7 to Horn Lake on Friday night.
Dobbs believes being technically sound defensively will be the key against Cleveland.
“Cleveland is a big, physical team,” Dobbs said. “They run the double-wing option, so we will have to be sound in our defense against them. We have to minimize our mistakes. We played with them last year, and I think we should be able to play with them again this year.”
Kickoff at Cleveland is set for 7 p.m.
