French Camp was seeing double in a 44-14 loss to Nanih Waiya on Friday night. Led by twins Devean and Donovan Turner, both juniors, the Warriors ground out 441 yards on the ground.
Devean carried 16 times 194 yards and two touchdowns and Donovan had 17 carries for 176 yards and two TDs. Donovan also completed four of seven passes for 49 yards.
French Camp coach Nathan Wright acknowledged that both ran hard, but said the key was the Nanih Waiya big and talented offensive line that opened holes. “They're so good up front," he said.After giving up two early touchdowns, Wright said the Panthers played well the rest of the half. Holman Edwards had a 10-yard TD run for French Camp in the first quarter and threw a 40-yard scoring pass to Holt Barlow in the second quarter.
“I thought Holman played a good game,” Wright said. “He missed a couple of reads, but considering the time he had to get rid of the ball, I thought he did pretty well.”
Edwards was 5 of 12 passing for 113 yards, but the Panthers managed only 12 yards on the ground.
“We couldn't run the ball because they are so good up front. We couldn't move anybody,” Wright said.
Nanih Waiya led 27-14 at the half, then outscored French Camp 17-0 after intermission.
Austin Sanders also had a good game for Nanih Waiya, running 12 times for 59 yards and one touchdown, catching a 25-yard pass and returning an interception 22 yards for a TD.
For French Camp, Zach Gilmer had pass receptions of 39 and 22 yards.
The Panthers are 2-3 overall and 1-1 in Region 3-1A. French Camp was in the exact same situation last year after a loss to Nanih Waiya, then won six straight games to finish second behind the Warriors in the region.
The rest of the schedule is made up of region games, beginning with a trip to West Lowndes Friday. West Lowndes is 2-4, but has won its last two games, defeating Hamilton 38-31 and Vardaman 40-26, to improve to 2-1 in region play.
“They obviously have some weapons,” Wright said.
French Camp played one of its best games last year in a 38-16 win over West Lowndes.
Nanih Waiya is 5-1 and 3-0 in the region. The only loss was to unbeaten 3A power Winona. Nanih Waiya is the top ranked 1A team, according to the website MaxPreps. French Camp is 11th out of 34 1A schools with football teams.
