Yazoo County’s run of dominance continued on Friday night when they spoiled Humphreys County’s homecoming with a 48-14 blowout win.
The win brought the Panthers’ record to 6-0 on the season, a first in the school’s history.
The weight of the feat is not lost upon head coach Robert Dobbs, but he doesn’t want his team to sit back on their laurels miss opportunities to improve.
“This is a very special accomplishment,” Dobbs said. “It’s a testament to the hard work by the kids and the coaching staff. They’ve bought in to what we’re trying to accomplish. But we’re still not satisfied. Our goal is to get better every day. We’re taking it one game at a time.”
The Panthers struck first in the contest when they took a gamble on 4th down. Kenneth Gainwell dropped back and tossed a perfect pass to Corey Rucker, who took it and went 44 yards for a score, giving the Panthers an early 6-0 lead.
On the next drive, Humphreys did their best to imitate Yazoo County by going for it on 4th down, but they came up short, giving the ball right back to the Panthers, who were unable to capitalize.
On their next drive, Humphreys was preparing to punt when the ball was snapped over the punter’s head, resulting in a safety. The ensuing punt was returned for a touchdown by Devarrio Sanders, and in the blink of an eye, Yazoo County led 15-0.
Sanders got his second touchdown of the night with 8:05 remaining in the half to give the Panthers a 22-0 lead.
A few minutes later Kory Gainwell rushed in his first score of the evening to make it 29-0.
And right before the half, Sanders earned his third touchdown of the evening with a rushing score to make it a 35-0 game at the half.
The second half was a more competitive game, as the Cowboys put up 14 points on the board, but the Panthers were able to tack on two more touchdowns (Sanders and Kory Gainwell) to make the final score 48-14.
Despite the blowout win, Dobbs still felt his squad didn’t get off to the best start.
“I probably sound like a broken record, but we started off slow,” Dobbs said. “We didn’t score on our first two possessions. We weren’t up to par. I guess that happens coming off of a bye week. We got it together halfway through the first quarter and didn’t look back.”
Kenneth Gainwell rushed the ball 10 times for 108 yards, and he connected on 2-of-4 passes for 66 yards and a score in the victory.
Devarrio Sanders had a monster game in the win over Humphreys. He rushed the ball seven times for 137 yards and three scores. Sanders also returned a punt 68 yards for his fourth touchdown of the game. On defense, Sanders also chipped in a sack.
Kory Gainwell rushed the ball five times for 99 yards and two touchdowns of his own. Gainwell also led the Indians with 10 total tackles, one of which was for a loss.
Corey Rucker hauled in both of Gainwell’s passes for 66 yards and a score.
Alphonso Ray and Cameron Shaffer each racked up nine total tackles and a half sack.
Ben Luckett had six tackles, three of which were for loss, and a sack in the win.
Tredarius Carr also had a sack.
Keon Sims had three total tackles and an interception in the victory.
Next on the schedule for Yazoo County is a key district game against Ruleville Central.
Ruleville Central is 2-4 after defeating J.Z. George 29-12 on Friday night.
Dobbs believes Ruleville Central is an old school team with physical tendencies.
“Ruleville Central is a hard-nosed football team,” Dobbs said. “They’re going to line up and run it at us and throw it around some. They’ll come at us on defense with a lot of different blitzes. They won’t let us sit back in the pocket. They’ll be coached up well, and they’ll play hard.”
Kickoff at Yazoo County is set for 7 p.m.
