Kosciusko's football season got off to a strong start with a 35-14 victory over Yazoo County. But there is room for improvement and it needs to come quickly with a game Friday against Winona.
“First and foremost, you are always glad to get a win, to start off on a high note,” said coach Casey Orr. But he added “What we preach to our kids is that you cannot accept in victory what you wouldn't accept in defeat. Winning a ball game like that covers up some mistakes. We want to make sure we get those fixed this week and we need to do it in a hurry because we play a really good Winona team Friday night.”
In particular, he said the defense needs to do a better job tackling in space and the offense needs to cut down on negative plays. “We have to take away the negative plays and keep the chains moving.”
The Whippets used a balanced offense with 173 yards on the ground and 152 through the air.
The game was never close as Kosciusko led 14-0 after the first quarter and 28-0 before Yazoo County scored its first touchdown in the final minute before halftime.
Eli Kemp started the scoring with a 15-yard run. That was followed by 30-yard pass from Caden Greer to Derrick Manning, a five-yard Lee Wade run and a 56-yard pass from Greer to Wade.
After Reed Miller scored on a 12-yard run for Yazoo County, Reggie Carter closed out the scoring for Kosciusko in the first minute of the second half when he ran 48 yards with a fumble recovery.
Yazoo County's final score came on a 95-yard pass from Miller to Cameron Williams in the fourth quarter.
Wade and Greer led the offense. Wade had six receptions for 100 yards and two carries for 30 yards. Greer was seven of 14 passing for 124 yards and carried six times for 22 yards. Thomas Olive was the leading runner with nine carries for 74 yards and Marq Fondren had nine for 50 yards. Backup quarterback Ryan Tillman connected on three of five passes for 28 yards.
Alexis Hernandez was perfect on five PATs.
Kentavius Brown had a strong game off the bench at defensive end with two tackles for losses, including a sack, and a forced fumble.
“Our defensive line played well across the board. We rotated seven of eight guys and they all played well for us,” Orr said.
Winona is a very strong 3A school that opened the season with a 40-29 victory over Choctaw County.
“As always, they are a good football team,” Orr said of Winona. “They are physical, They are well coached. They are going to run it several ways. They are going to run it with the running back. They are going to run it with quarterback. They are going to run it with whoever they can find, and you are going to have to be able to stop it.”
Kosciusko last played Winona two years ago, when the Tigers won a shootout 49-39.
“The important thing at this time of the year is to make sure we improve from week to week,” Orr said. “We did that from the jamboree and now we have to turn around and do it even more so for Week Two because the schedule is about to get really daunting. We have to buckle down.”
