Bears spoil homecoming, senior night for Choctaws

The Dyer County Choctaws welcomed in Trezevant on Friday for a homecoming matchup in the rain before ending their regular season with a district contest against Brighton next week.

Unfortunately for Dyer County, their homecoming night was one to forget, as the Choctaws fell to the Bears 42-6.

The Bears' athleticism was too much to overcome for the young Choctaw squad, but Dyer County's offensive struggles didn't help the defense, which had their hands full with a solid Trezevant running attack that rushed for over 300 yards.

"We didn't play well at all, they came out and they took it to us from play one and we never could respond," said Choctaw head coach Adam Renshaw. "Bottom line is, coaches have to coach better, and players have to play better."

The Bears scored on their opening drive of the game and immediately put the pressure on the Dyer County offense.

After pushing the Choctaw offense back to their own 4-yard line on their opening drive, the Bears forced Dyer County to punt out of their own end zone.

The Choctaws' snap sailed over the head of kicker Josh Despain, which resulted in a safety, and pushed the Trezevant lead to 8-0 midway through the first quarter.

"I really don't know what happened. I had a kid in there that made a bad snap," said Renshaw.

The two squads traded field position for most of the first half, but after Choctaw quarterback Dylan Dye went out of the game after taking a facemask to his throwing elbow, backup Chris Hill stepped in to run the offense.

Hill's final home game didn't go as the senior might have planned, as Trezevant picked off his second pass of the drive and returned it to the Choctaws' 8-yard line.

The Bears punched it in from 8 yards out on their first play after the turnover, which pushed the Choctaw deficit to 16-0 with two minutes left in the first half.

Dye returned to the game after sitting out a series, and immediately made his presence felt on the field.

Dye and Marcus Parr hooked up three times on a 60-yard drive, which gave the Choctaws the ball on the Bears' 4-yard line with time running out in the first half.

Despite moving down the field in perfect rhythm, the Choctaws were held on four straight plays, which sent Dyer County into the locker room with a 16-point deficit.

The Choctaws came out with a lot of confidence on their first possession of the second half, and drove the ball down the field with ease.

The 70-yard drive was capped off with a 19-yard touchdown pass from Dye to Jacob Hudson, which cut the Choctaws' deficit to 16-6 midway through the third quarter.

The Choctaw touchdown must have sparked the Bears in a major way, as Trezevant scored three touchdowns and forced a safety in the final nine minutes of the third quarter, as they took a decisive 36-6 lead going into the fourth quarter.

"We are just at that point in the season right now where we have some young players that haven't been this far before," said Renshaw. "We are learning some tough lessons right now, and hopefully they will pay off in the future."

The Bears added a final touchdown on a 9-yard run by Terrell Williams, which enforced the mercy rule, as the Choctaws fell to Trezevant 42-6.

The Choctaws will look to end the 2009 season on a positive note, when the young squad travels to Brighton next week for their final district matchup.

"We have our backs against the wall, like our coaches said, it's fight or die," said Renshaw. "Hopefully we will come out fighting."