Lions fall short of postseason

H.W. Byers had the tall task in its regular season finale of going to Tupelo Thursday night to face the Region 1-1A champion.

Coach Chris Daniels said, unlike the score indicates, his Lions played with outstanding effort in the 4414 loss to Tupelo Christian Preparatory School.

“TCPS is a really tough team,” he said. “Their program has come a long way.

“We didn’t play bad. We turned the ball over three times but created three turnovers, too. It doesn’t look like we played good defense, but we did.

“Offensively, we just couldn’t run the ball. We passed for over 200 yards.” Byers finished 6-4 overall and 3-4 in the district, coming up a win short of the playoffs.

“We came back from the COVID year (2020), when we missed our last four games, and had a six-win season this year,” Daniels said. “I consider that a success. We would have liked to have made the playoffs, but a lot of teams don’t finish with winning records either.”

The Eagles built a commanding 37-0 halftime lead in last Thursday’s contest. Byers scored a pair of touchdowns in the second half — Michael James’ 2-yard quarterback keeper and Jabarri Wright’s 45-yard interception return. Wright caught a pass for the two-point conversion after James’ touchdown.

James was 14 of 23 passing for 227 yards and one interception. He had seven carries for 33 yards.

Wright reeled in four passes for 139 yards, and Vincent Talley had five catches for 42 yards.

“We moved the football through the air, but seven penalties and the three turnovers hurt us,” Daniels said.

In the four games the Lions lost this season, they committed 15 turnovers.

“That’s almost four a game,” Daniels said. “That’s never going to help you win a football game.” In 1A football, the bulk of games in a season are against district foes.

“You hate to be 6-4 and not make the playoffs but that happens in 1A football,” he said.

“It was kind of a 'what if’ season. What if we hadn’t gotten 21 flags at Smithville or what if we hadn’t turned the ball over five times against Okolona?

“But I’m proud of them. Coming back from the COVID year and performing like they did, it shows a lot about our kids.”

He loses only two seniors — Devin Moore and Jemarco Hubbard.

“We will move some eighth graders up for next season, and we hope to build on this season’s success,” Daniels said.

“We will use the off-season to get bigger, stronger and faster, and work on cutting out the turnovers.”