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Sports

From the Thursday, September 2, 2010 edition

Panthers defeat Bulldogs

Excel posted a 27-8 victory over county rival J.U. Blacksher in front of a crowd of over 1,000 emotionally charged fans at Uriah last Thursday night.

The Panthers dressed 32 more players in grades 10-12 than Blacksher and slowly, but surely wore the Bulldogs down.

Excel took a 7-0 lead on the opening possession, added another score just before halftime to lead 14-0. The Panthers scored late in the third quarter and added a touchdown late in the fourth quarter to go ahead 27-0. Blacksher got on the scoreboard in the final seconds of the contest.

“We were excited to get the win,” said Excel head coach Al Bowen. “Anytime you can beat your rival, it’s a big win. We didn’t play our best, but we’ll take it.”

Excel’s victory kept a four-year streak of the visiting team winning alive and marked just the second time a team has won two straight in the series since 2004 and 2005.

Wes Sims got his first taste of the Excel-Blacksher rivalry.

“I was pleased with our kids’ effort,” he said. “I thought they fought pretty hard. Our conditioning was a little better than I thought it would be and that was good. I felt like we had a good plan, as did Excel, however we just didn’t execute and they did. We have to tackle better and get off the field on third down. Offensively we just have to execute a lot better.”

Bowen said he was very proud of the Panthers’ defense for not allowing too many big plays and for creating three turnovers. He said assistant coaches (Marty) Hanks, (Justin) Ridgeway and (William) Wall did a great job of getting the kids ready to play.

“We played well on offense at times, but we shot ourselves in the foot too many times,” said Bowen. “We had two turnovers and too many penalties. If we had executed better, we could have put three more touchdowns on the scoreboard.”

Bowen commended Blacksher’s players and coaches for “battling to the end.”

“I give coach Sims and his defense credit for the way they got after it from the start to finish,” said Bowen.

Excel was led offensively by 5-8, 160-pound senior halfback D.D. McMillian. He had 153 yards and two touchdowns on 21 rushes. He also attempted one pass and caught a pass for 8 yards.

Syngen Taylor, a 5-11, 235-pound senior fullback, had 49 yards and a touchdown on 12 rushes. He also had a catch for 9 yards. Sophomore halfback Kaleb Stafford had 42 yards on six carries. Senior Bennie Andrews had 36 yards on two rushes and sophomore Tyler Stabler had 26 yards on two runs. Sophomore quarterback Cody Waters had two rushes for 10 yards and a touchdown. He also completed 2 of 3 passes for 17 yards.

Blacksher’s offense was led by 5-10, 195-pound senior fullback Austin Silcox, who had 64 yards on 10 rushes. Michael Williams, a 5-8, 120-pound junior halfback, had 61 yards on 12 rushes. Junior Ryan Daniel got his first start at quarterback and completed two of seven passes for 28 yards. He was intercepted once and sacked several times. Williams had both catches.

On defense, Excel was led by junior tackles Cody Martin and T.J. Kirksey with nine tackles each. Stafford followed with six. Nick Brown, Syngen Taylor, Tyler Davis and Megale Taylor had six tackles each. Megale Taylor also had an interception.

Blacksher’s defense was led by Williams, who had seven tackles. Cody Turberville and Jahmal Threatt had six each. Silcox and Fred McDowell had five each.

Excel opened the contest with a 9-play, 67-yard drive that Waters capped on a 14-yard naked bootleg around left end with 6:48 left in the opening period. Syngen Taylor kicked the extra point.

In the closing minutes of the first half, the Panthers managed the game clock well, scoring with 18 seconds left in the half to go ahead 14-0. McMillian capped the drive on a 1-yard run and Taylor kicked the extra point.

Excel added a third touchdown with 1:37 left in the third quarter after almost blocking a Blacksher punt in the Bulldogs’ end zone. Four plays later, McMillian scored on a 5-yard run to cap the possession that began at Blacksher’s 17. Taylor missed the extra point, giving Excel a 20-0 lead.

Late in the fourth quarter, Megale Taylor intercepted a pass at the Blacksher 25 and returned it to the 22 after Blacksher had held Excel on downs inside the 15. Three plays later Syngen Taylor scored on a 1-yard run. He added the extra-point kick and Excel led 27-0 with 3:21 left to play.

Blacksher followed with an 11-play, 64-yard drive to get on the scoreboard. Williams scored on a 3-yard run with 17 seconds left. Junior halfback Labryson Hudson added the conversion on a 3-yard run.

Both Excel and Blacksher start regional play Friday. Excel takes on 3A, Region 1 foe Washington County in Excel at 7 p.m. and Blacksher meets 2A, Region 1 opponent Choctaw County at 7 p.m. at Uriah.

Bowen and Sims said considering the overall strength of their respective regions, they couldn’t afford to start region play with a loss.

Washington County is coming off a 14-9 loss to county-rival Leroy in Chatom. Choctaw County suffered a 70-0 loss to Livingston, a 4A school, last week in Butler.

“Washington County has a talented team on both sides of the ball,” said Bowen. “We must play our very best to have a chance to win. We really need a big home crowd to support the kids.”

Sims said Choctaw County also has some talented players.

“Choctaw County has several good skill players,” he said. “They have a little more speed than us, but I believe we have an advantage up front.”