Crockett falls; Haywood dominates
DYERSBURG - The unofficial kickoff to the Crockett County Cavaliers’ season was Friday night as they played the Munford Cougars in the opening game of the Dyersburg High School jamboree.
Crockett County, who was without head coach Kevin Ward due to a recent heart attack, was being coached by interim head coach Jr. Kirby.
Kirby, who is in his first year as coach at Crockett County, was most recently the head coach for Munford High School.
“Munford came into tonight with a little extra in their game with me being their former head coach,” Kirby said. “Overall, I’m very pleased with how our guys competed considering the recent issues that have hit this team. Munford is a good team that has a lot of athletes over there and also has the ability to platoon an offensive team as well as a defensive team with very few players going both ways.
“I’m proud of these kids for their effort tonight.”
Crockett County got the scoring started midway through the first of two 20-minute halves with a continuous running clock.
With 10:13 left in the first half, Crockett’s Jordan Branch scored on a one-yard touchdown run making the score 7-0.
Munford tied the game right before the end of the first half as Chaz Hayes scored on a 12-yard touchdown run. Hayes accounted for all three of Munford’s touchdowns as he ran for scores of 41 and 73 yards to his 12-yard touchdown run.
Crockett’s second and last touchdown of the night came when quarterback Jacob Fitzhugh scored on a 35-yard touchdown run. Fitzhugh ran for an unofficial 132 yards on 15 carries.
“Tonight was just a dress rehearsal for when games really count,” Kirby said. “This is a very young team that we have this year, and it was good to get them out here playing against a really good team tonight.”
“We have a bye week next week in week 0. After that, we host Westview in week 1. We are going to stick together and work hard in preparation for the first game.”
Haywood 31, Union City 7
If Friday night is any indication of how the Tomcats season will go, it will be a good season for the Tomcats and their second year head coach Steve Hookfin.
The Tomcats had very little trouble with the Union City Golden Tornadoes as they defeated the 1A power.
“Union City is a very good program that runs a very tough offense,” Hookfin said. “Union City didn’t show very much in their arsenal, but I’m very pleased with how my guys competed with them for 40 minutes tonight.
“We came out and played some good football tonight.”
Haywood County opened the game on a 70-yard touchdown run by quarterback Tillman McCrae.
Haywood’s defense followed that offensive series with a big defensive stop on 4th-and-goal at the 1-yard line, keeping Union City out of the end zone on their opening drive.
That offensive and defensive stanza for the Tomcats set the tone for the rest of the game.
Haywood added two more touchdown runs in the first half as sophomore Decourtney Reed had touchdown runs of 49 and 38 yards, giving Haywood 19 points in the opening half.
Union City scored its lone touchdown of the game in the first half as Lazzarus Scribner broke away for a 49-yard touchdown run.
The Tomcats added two more touchdowns in the second half as Rashaun Tyus scored on a one-yard run.
The final score for the Tomcats came on a fumble recovery that was returned for a touchdown by Kalvin Carson.
“I’m proud of the way these guys played tonight, but we have to continue pushing forward into the bye week,” Hookfin said. “We host a good Marion, Illinois team in two weeks.
“We need to continue keeping this competitive edge and I think it could be a good season for these guys.”