In a measuring-stick game, the Whitehaven Tigers met up with the Central High Warriors at Crump Stadium. At stake: Would Central be able to maintain its unblemished record against a tough Tiger program whose only two losses are to Lausanne and North Little Rock, Ark.?
The answer was ultimately no, as Central was unable to overcome Whitehaven, who won 35-14.
Tigers QB Vincent Guy opened up the scoring with a 39-yard touchdown completion to Devin Boddie for the early 7-0 lead. Central answered with a powerful 21-yard run from Dylan Ingram to tie the score at 7-7. Guy connected with South Carolina commit Keveon Mullins for a 72-yard TD run that gave Whitehaven a 14-7 lead heading into halftime.
In the second half, a 72-yard run by Cameron Sneed put the Tigers back in scoring range. That’s when Guy found his third different receiver, Cormontae Hamilton, for a three-yard touchdown to extend the Tigers’ lead to 21-7.
Whitehaven’s defense got into the scoring action when Sean Wilder picked off a pass from Central’s Sylvester Donerson and ran it back for a touchdown. With momentum on Whitehaven’s side, Central mustered one more score, a touchdown by Lorenzo Towns on a one-yard run. Sneed capped off the scoring for the Tigers with a 68-yard run.
Sneed finished the night with 181 rushing yards and one touchdown. Guy was very efficient, passing for 117 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.
“I like the result, but I don’t like the way we got there,” said Whitehaven coach Rodney Saulsberry. “We made way too many mistakes. We have got some things to clean up. We had three turnovers and won by 21 points. That is not going to happen a lot. We are going to be playing better teams, so we have to shore that up.”
Central’s Lorenzo Town rushed for 125 yards on 11 attempts and Ingram finished the game with 51 yards on 11 attempts.
“There is nothing in the stars that says Central should be undefeated this season. We lost to a better team tonight, but I like where we are headed,” said Central coach Major Wright. “Everyone understands something is happening here and we don’t plan to go backward at all. In time people are going to dread playing us.”
Junior defensive back Tamarion McDonald and senior linebacker Tyler Hunter both had 7 tackles to lead the way for the Tigers. Linebacker Bryson Eason made his return to the lineup. Eason had missed every game since injuring his ankle in the second game of the season. Eason aggravated the injury in the first half and sit out the rest of the game.
The Tigers use of explosive plays is a blessing and a curse for this team according to Saulsberry.
“That is the danger,” Saulsberry said. “We have fallen into big-play capability and it is exciting, but we have to get into honing out drives. We want to be able to play grimy football and extend drives. Right now we are a big play team and we are playing well, but we need to be able to grind things out.”
The Warriors will have two weeks to prepare for the always tough Germantown Red Devil at 7 pm at Germantown on October 19. The Tigers will host White Station on October 19 after also been off a white because of fall break.
