Published: October 28, 2009 08:55 am      

Tigers fall to No. 4 Nanih Waiya, 48-20

If something is there, Ethel High School head football coach Paul Dees feels like you just have to take advantage of it.

That philosophy resulted in Ethel senior quarterback Hunter Dempsey and senior wide receiver Deangelo Hall setting individual career highs during the Tigers' 48-20 loss to No. 2 ranked Nanih Waiya on Friday night.

Dempsey completed 15-of-28 passes for a whopping 313 yards while Hall caught an incredible 12 passes for 164 yards.

"They never really adjusted to what we were doing so we just kept throwing it," Dees said. "He (Hall) made some great catches. He has really come on strong this year and has improved as much as anybody."

Nanih Waiya took a quick 7-0 early in the first quarter on a 14-yard run by quarterback Austin Swart, who then kicked the extra point.

Ethel fought back to cut it to 7-6 on a 1-yard run by Dempsey. The two-point conversion pass failed.

The Warriors stretched their advantage out to 20-6 after one quarter of play thanks to a 20-yard scoring pass from Swart to Johnny Kight and a 2-yard run by Lane Evans.

Nanih Waiya, which has now won eight consecutive games, stretched its lead out to 28-6 at the half thanks to a 58-yard touchdown run by Martin Johnson and a two-point conversion run by Rico Miller. Johnson finished the night with 146 rushing yards on 10 carries.

Ethel opened the second-half scoring on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Dempsey to Hall to cut it to 28-12.

Nanih Waiya put together back-to-back touchdowns in the third quarter on a 4-yard touchdown run by Devante McDaniel and a 63-yard scoring run by Montrel Easley to go up 41-12. Ethel cut it to 41-20 on a 96-yard touchdown pass from Dempsey to Michael Erving and a two-point conversion pass from Dempsey to Hall.

The last touchdown came on a 21-yard run by Easley in the fourth quarter.

Troymun Hawthorne rushed for 35 yards on 11 carries to lead Ethel, while Antwon McCain had two catches for 53 yards.

Channin Green led the EHS defense with eight stops, while Dylan Simmons had seven and Keith Collins six.

Next up for Ethel is a home game against Thomastown set for Friday at 7 p.m. Ethel's last game of the season has been moved up one day to Thursday, Nov. 5 and will be played at East Oktibbeha.

"We are just trying to play hard and focus and see if we can win out," Dees said. "We played with a little more confidence on offense (against Nanih Waiya). Hopefully that can continue."