Area teams participate in 1st Look Scrimmage at DCHS

With just two weeks left until opening weekend of high school football, Dyer County hosted the ninth annual 1st Look Scrimmage in Newbern Friday night featuring eight teams from around the area. The eight teams participating were the Choctaws, Lake County, Ripley, Brighton, Haywood County, Halls, Heath High School and Gibson County. To say the least, the cool night in Newbern was filled with amazing catches, hard hits, and most importantly, a shutout victory for the Choctaws.

In the first contest on the night the Heath Pirates out of Paducah, Ky. battled Lake County. The Pirates picked up two touchdowns early in the first half through the air, and Lake County scored on a 25-yard touchdown by Trevor Blythe, making the score 14-8 Heath at halftime.

The Pirates picked up exactly where they left off offensively with a 64-yard touchdown pass to open the second half, pushing their lead to 20-8 after a failed two-point conversion attempt. Lake County put together some offense late in the second half with consecutive runs of 10 yards or better by Derrell Avery, Blythe and Erin Reid. The Falcons scored twice in the late minutes of the game, first with an 8-yard touchdown run by Reid, followed by a 64-yard touchdown pass from Sam Hayes to Chris Rogers, cutting the lead to 20-16 with five minutes remaining. Heath scored on its next position on a 71-yard touchdown run by their electric quarterback, which sealed the victory for the Pirates.

In the second matchup of the night the Halls Tigers took on the Ripley Tigers. Halls was definitely fired up for its first scrimmage and scored on its opening position on a touchdown pass from quarterback Craig Davis to Tahj Barlow. The Halls defense stopped Ripley on three straight plays, which forced the Tigers to punt and give the ball back to Halls. Davis continued to let it fly on the field and hooked up with Barlow again for a 60-yard touchdown, making the score 14-0. Ripley played a good game, despite having three touchdowns called back due to penalties. Ripley fought back and took the lead 16-14 on a 50-yard scramble by Antonin Woods with just two minutes to go in the scrimmage. The never-say-quit Halls squad battled back with time running down and scored the game-winning touchdown on a pass from Davis to Chris Cessac in the back of the end zone with just 20 seconds remaining in the game. The Halls defense eventually stopped Ripley, despite a last-second effort by Ripley on a hook-and-ladder play that nearly scored the winning touchdown.

In the third matchup of the night, Haywood County took on Brighton in a defensive battle. Haywood took the ball first and had to settle for a field goal after the Brighton defense made a clutch stop near the goal line. Brighton answered the field goal with a 47-yard touchdown run by Flatez Dyson, giving the Cardinals an early 6-3 advantage after a failed two-point conversion attempt. Brighton picked up another touchdown just before halftime, giving the Cardinals a 12-6 advantage going into the break. Both teams' defenses stepped up in the second half and the score never changed, leading to Brighton's victory.

As the Brighton and Haywood County game was in its final minutes the Choctaws made their way to the south end zone to an ovation from the Choctaw faithful.

"Tonight when we came out I was more excited than I have been in my six years at Dyer County," said Choctaws head coach Adam Renshaw.

Dyer County rounded out the night with a matchup against Gibson County. The Choctaws took the ball first and hard-nosed Jeff Miller took the opening carry 40 yards, firing up the Choctaw sideline.

The Choctaws scored just two plays later when quarterback Peyton Lucas hooked up with Edward Powell for a 10-yard touchdown.

The Choctaws defense forced a Gibson County fumble on their first possession of the ballgame, turning things right back over to Dyer County. Lucas found Powell again over the middle for another touchdown, pushing the Choctaw lead to 13-0.

"We did some good things tonight on offense and defense against Gibson County, and I'm very happy with our effort," said Renshaw. "But we still have some things to work on."

The score remained the same after the first half ended, as the Dyer County defense put the clamps on the Pioneer offense, holding them to just three first downs in the entire contest. Hard-hitting Choctaw defensive end Eric McLin made his presence felt late in the second half when he drilled the Pioneer quarterback, sidelining him for the rest of the game.

The Choctaws took the night's finale 13-0 and will play Halls next Friday in the first game of the jamboree in Dyersburg.

"Halls looked great tonight; they have an athletic quarterback who can do a lot of things, so we will have to be ready," said Renshaw.