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Holly High falls hard to Lions By CLAUDE VINSON
Sports Editor  | Photos by Barry Burleson
Interception
Holly
High’s Eric Hardin (9) returns an interception for yardage Friday night
at home. In back is teammate Marquaveus Walton (51). |
The Holly Springs Hawks returned to their own turf last Friday night for a showdown with another non-district foe. They
deferred the opening reception and the Rosa Fort Lions received the
ball at their 43. Their next play drew a large penalty but 5 of those
yards were back by a face mask penalty. Their quarterback, Bernardrick
McKinney, was operating from the shotgun and tried a sweep keeper off
left tackle. He was met by Lexter Mull. The Hawks had held the Lions to
a 1-yard gain on their first series. The teams
traded 5-yard penalties and then the Hawks had to punt. The ball
traveled to the Lions’ 41 where they went to work and turned a pair of
first downs. The second was on a keeper which carried to the 12. The
next play put them inside the 5. The Hawks’ defense set them back. Rosa
Fort stacked the receivers to the left on the next play and McKinney
lofted one over everybody’s heads and into the hands of Rodney McKay
for six. They failed the two-point attempt to make it 6-0. The Hawks threw an interception on their second play. The
Lions were facing a third and 20 when McKinney hit Jeremy Jones inside
the red zone. He left a 2-yard deficit. They lost 6 more as the quarter
ended and the Hawks blitzed the QB. After the change in direction, on a
fourth and eight from the 22, McKinney rolled out and hit McKay for six
more. The point-after try failed, but the lead was 12-0. A
holding call backed the Hawks to their own 26 and they punted on a
fourth and 24. After the punt, McKinney set his sight on James Northern
and drilled him with a bullet that went for 58 yards and six more. This
time Calais Dunn booted the point-after and Rosa Fort was up 19-0.  | Good gain
Jaren King (10) of Holly High carries versus Rosa Fort. In back is teammate Michael Perkins (55). |
Jaren
King got a first down for Holly High but the Hawks punted away when
they failed to convert another. The Lions tried another quick hitter
but this time it was picked off by Eric Hardin at full gallop. He
returned it to the Lions’ 18 for their first trip into the red zone.
They turned it over a play later. Derrell
Lovelady picked up 20 yards for the visitors on a hard jaunt up the
middle. They then had a 45-yard run nullified on an offensive hold. The
Lions punted when they couldn’t turn a fourth and 36. The Hawks fumbled
seconds later and then the Hawks’ defense forced a fumble and they
recovered. But they had to punt it back. The
Lions were hit with back-to-back penalties totaling 20 yards. But they
came back with another big gain on a pass play, and with a little
penalty help, they ended up on the 10-yard line. They scored with 30
seconds left in the half, with no success on the extra point, to gain a
25-0 lead. The Hawks received to start the second
half but a bad snap saw them go out on downs. They got a break when the
Lions fumbled. Three plays later and the Hawks punted. The Lions went
back to their air game as the QB found Jones on a screen and he outran
a half dozen chasing Hawks, finding his way into the end zone. Dunn
booted another one for the 32nd point. King put
some life back into the Holly High offense with a first at the 20. Two
penalties gave them a first and goal at the 7. Brandon McKinney took it
in from there on a keeper, avoiding the possible shutout. The Hawks’
point-after attempt failed. The score was 32-6. The third quarter expired with the score still 32-6. The Lions scored again shortly into the fourth quarter and made it 39-6. On
what could have been a broken play, Holly High’s McKinney stepped out
of the pocket and threw a long strike to the far right corner where it
was hauled in by Nick Walker for a TD. McKinney ran the two-point
conversion over center to make it 39-14. The unbeaten Lions would stop the Hawks for a safety from the 2 and then add another six and seven for a final score of 54-14. The loss dropped the Hawks’ record to 1-2 with their next game at home against Coahoma County this Friday night. They host Broad Street September 24 and then open district play October 1 at Independence. |
