Yazoo County committed 15 penalties and had six turnovers against Germantown on Friday night so it should come as no surprise that they fell 28-14.
Looking back on the game, Yazoo County head football coach Robert Dobbs believes his team made far too many errors.
“We couldn’t put a drive together in the first half,” Dobbs said. “We made a lot of mental mistakes. We had too many penalties. We had too many turnovers. Every time we had a good play, we would take a step back.”
The 15 penalties were for 125 yards, many of which were for holding.
Dobbs feels that is unacceptable.
“I contribute the penalties to a lack of focus,” Dobbs said. “We made a lot of mental errors. We had a lot of holding penalties, and that was due to not moving our feet. We were getting fatigued.”
The battle between Germantown and Yazoo County began as a defensive battle from both teams.
After Yazoo County forced a punt on Germantown’s first possession, the Panthers got their first shot on offense.
Unfortunately for Yazoo County, they were unable to get anything going.
Even more unfortunate for Yazoo County was the snap on their punt attempt.
The snap went past Jamie Ortiz and landed in the end zone for what would become a safety, giving Germantown a 2-0 lead with 8:44 remaining in the first quarter.
After kicking off following the safety, Yazoo County’s defense played well and forced a punt attempt.
The Mavericks, however, faked the punt and converted the first down on a run, which led to a field goal attempt for the Mavs that was no good.
Yazoo County, attempting to get some momentum going, attempted a backwards pass to Keilos Swinney, which fell to the ground and led to a touchdown by Germantown, giving them an 8-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Early in the second quarter, Yazoo County had another unlucky break when a Kenneth Gainwell pass was intercepted and taken back for a touchdown, making it a 14-0 game.
The third quarter was a slow-paced drag that was highlighted only by a 1-yard touchdown run by Germantown, giving the Mavericks a substantial 21-0 lead heading into the final quarter.
The Panthers finally struck the Mavericks in the fourth quarter after a deep pass from Gainwell to Terrance Milsap set up a Cherokee Edwards TD run, cutting the lead to 21-6.
But the next play for Germantown was a deep TD pass, extending their lead to 28-6.
Towards the end of the game, a Gainwell TD sneak for a TD and a Devarrio Sanders 2-point conversion brought the score to 28-14, which proved to be the final.
Keilos Swinney had a big game in the loss. He had 11 tackles, three carries for 18 yards and four catches for 31 yards.
Edwards and Gainwell each scored a touchdown in the defeat.
For Dobbs and the Panthers, the game served as a bit of a reality check.
“It’s definitely a reality check for us,” Dobbs said. “But I did see some positive things. We have to build on those positive things. We had some great effort. We didn’t lay down. We didn’t give up. We have to learn from that.”
Yazoo County will look to bounce back from the loss on Friday night against the 1-1 Richland Rangers.
Kickoff at Richland is set for 7 p.m.
