Byers’ season ends with loss at Shaw


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Trelorenz Stephen punts versus the Hawks.

Byers’ season ends with loss at Shaw

By CLAUDE VINSON
Sports Editor

The H.W. Byers football team added another page to the history book last Friday evening when they made the long trek to the deep Delta to contest the 9-2 Shaw Hawks in their first state playoff game of the new era.

The Hawks were first over the ball and wasted little time in putting up the first points. They picked up the two bonus points and had the 8-0 lead. The Lions couldn’t get their offense on track and went three and out. But the Lions’ defense pushed the Hawks into a second and 23. Shaw’s signal caller, Devonte Allen, called a fake delay and hit Andree Pruitt on a long throw down the right side. The receiver grabbed the pigskin in front of two Lions defenders and went in standing up. The defense stopped the conversion attempt in the backfield but the Hawks had a 14-0 lead still in the first period.

The Lions went three and out as the quarter ended. The Hawks took over at the 42 after the return and went down to a fourth and one; they made it. Octavious Jackson took the handoff and swept around right end in a blaze to make it 20-0 with no conversion. The Lions fumbled on the first play from scrimmage at the 26-yard line. After a play by the Hawks which was hard to explain (they appeared to have lost the ball but the officials ruled the attempted lateral an incompleted pass), Cadarius Shepherd took a handoff on a draw and went straight up the middle. This time they converted for the deuce and went to 28-0.

They were not done. They kicked and recovered the onside kick. Three plays later, Allen faked to the tailback and then ran off right guard for another six. The PAT failed, but the score had ballooned to 34-0.

The Lions went three and out but the defense pushed the Hawks into a third and 32 before the horn sounded for intermission. It was 34-0 at the half.

Photos courtesy of
The Bolivar Commercial

Djuan Delaine returns a kickoff for the Lions Friday.

Byers received to start the third period and Djuan Delaine returned it to the 41, a 36-yard run. Marquis Moore, who had been hampered to this point by the Shaw defense, picked up a first down at the 20. The Lions went for it on a fourth and six with a flare to Delaine. He was pushed out at the 12. This marked the first time the Lions had penetrated the Shaw red zone. Byers was penalized and then went out on a fourth and eight.

The Hawks scored twice more in the third quarter to make it 46-0.

Moore gave his team another first down right after the fourth opened. But the Hawks picked the Byers’ QB’s next throw. The Hawks had begun running in reserves and the Lions forced them out on downs and took over on the 6-yard line. The Lions trying to avoid the shutout, threw another pick which was grabbed on the five. The Hawks had been using Chris Hawthorne as their primary carrier in the fourth and he scored on a sweep right. The Lions prevented the PAT and the final score was 52-0.

The loss ended a successful first season as a member of a district for coach James Kimbrough’s H.W. Byers Lions. They finished 6-6 overall.

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