Yazoo City’s football team could not keep pace with the powerful Port Gibson offense on Friday night, causing them to fall 30-22.
The loss dropped the Indians’ record to 3-2 on the season.
The early portion of the contest was a fierce battle, filled with hard hits and big plays from both squads.
At the half, it was knotted up at 22-22.
On their first possession of the third quarter, Port Gibson’s quarterback once again broke free for a touchdown, giving them a 30-22 lead, which would be the eventual final score.
Yazoo City head football coach Timothy Johnson had nothing but great things to say about Port Gibson’s star player.
“Their quarterback did us in,” Johnson said. “He’s a great kid and works hard. He’s a great athlete and beat us on the ground with his feet.”
As far as his own offense was concerned, Johnson wants to see a cleaner game in the future.
“Turnovers, botched snaps, and penalties killed us offensively,” Johnson said. “When we would have a big run, it would be called back on a penalty. It went like that all night. We shot ourselves in the foot time and time again.”
Along with the self-inflicted wounds, there was another issue with the offense in the second half of the game.
They didn’t keep up a high enough tempo for Johnson’s taste.
He hopes to remedy that malady in practice this week.
“We will be working on our tempo a lot during practice this week,” Johnson said. “We’re trying to run 50-60 plays per game. That’s our goal. We’ve slowed our pace in recent weeks. It isn’t a conditioning issue. We’re in great shape. We just have to work on keeping the tempo up.”
Despite the issues that stopped the Indians from scoring more, there were still some outstanding performances.
Senior quarterback Roncedrick Weekly went 15-for-25 for 345 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. He also rushed for a whopping 257 yards, two touchdowns, and a 2-point conversion on 19 carries.
Jared Waters made the most of his nine carries with 127 yards and a 2-point conversion attempt.
Rorecoss Willis caught six passes for 113 yards, while Tommy Washington caught four passes for 114 yards in the loss.
Percy Green had two catches for 53 yards and a touchdown.
Kory Price also had two catches for 55 yards.
Latavis Taylor led the Indians with 11 tackles, one of which was for a loss.
Torey Haymer was right behind Taylor with 10 total tackles, two of which were for loss.
Javarious Grady rounded out the top three with eight total tackles, two of which were for loss.
The Indians will have the opportunity to rebound on Friday night when they face the winless Amanda Elzy Panthers.
Amanda Elzy (0-5) recently lost 32-6 to Greenwood High School.
Despite their winless record, Johnson anticipates Amanda Elzy giving his squad a battle on Friday.
“Amanda Elzy is our next opponent,” Johnson said. “They haven’t won a game this year, so they’re hungry. They will put their best foot forward against us and play extremely hard. It will be a tough game.”
Kickoff at Amanda Elzy is set for 7 p.m.
