WRITTEN BY DANIEL PAYNE

Photos Courtesy of Bridget Stokes

Friday night Bibb County took the trip down to Plantersville to open up region play against the Dallas County Hornets. The Choctaws knew that the Hornets were going to be real pesky and would make plays. They just needed to stay focused and keep doing what the coaches had taught them all week and everything would be just fine.

The Choctaws received the opening kickoff and took just 4 plays to go 60 yards with quarterback Cole McCarty breaking free up the middle for 38 yards and a touchdown to put Bibb on the scoreboard first. Baylor Hughey added the extra point and with 10:30 left in the first quarter the Choctaws led 7-0.

Letrell Morrison smothers a hornet receiver: Photo by Bridget Stokes

The Hornets couldn’t muster any offense and were forced to punt after just three plays. The Choctaws took over at their own 49 yard line and behind the running of McCarty and Deshun Murrell, moved quickly down the field. On the sixth play of the drive Murrell found paydirt for his first of many touchdowns on this night with a 4 yard run. Hughey again added the extra point and with 6:28 to go in the first quarter the Choctaws led 14-0.

The Hornets finally got things going and quickly found themselves in Choctaws territory. Hornet quarterback Josh Brown dropped back on first down and found Fredrico Tyre for a 43 yard touchdown reception. Keith Thomas ran in the two point conversion and the Hornets and their fans were hyped up as the Hornets closed the gap to 14-8.

Letrell Morrison returned the kickoff  31 yards to set the Choctaws up with good field position at midfield. After the Hornets were hit with a personal foul penalty to move the ball to the 35, Murrell again found the end zone, this time from 6 yards out. The point after attempt was no good to make it 20-8 with 1:11 left in the first quarter.

Dallas County would turn the ball over via a turnover on their next possession as Cade Brown stepped in front of the Hornets pass attempt to give Bibb the ball at the Hornets 39 yard line. However, the Choctaws couldn’t pick up a first down and gave the ball back to the Hornets. Brown began to find open receivers and after finding Jeremy Holman open for 38 yards the Hornets were quickly at the Choctaws 17. A few plays later Brown scored from 12 yards out on a quarterback scramble. Brown then hit Thomas in the corner for the two point conversion to make the score 21-16 with 8:59 to go in the half.

If the Hornets had any thoughts of an upset, all of that would be squashed in a matter of seconds as Murrell took the ensuing kickoff at the 10 and raced untouched down the left sideline for a 90 yard touchdown. Murrell then tacked on the 2 point conversion run to make the score 29-16 in the blink of an eye.

After the Hornets failed to convert a fake punt from their own 27 yard line, the Choctaws were back in business. A few plays later Murrell found a seam and was vapor as he took off through the Hornets defense for a 28 yard touchdown run. The point after attempt was blocked and with 7:10 left the Choctaws led 35-16.

The Hornets moved quickly down field but just as it seemed they had something going, Cade Brown stripped the Hornets Brown and the Choctaws Jacob Hobson recovered the fumble at the Choctaws 14. On the first play from scrimmage disaster struck as McCarty’s pass was picked off by Thomas and returned 31 yards for a touchdown. The try for two was no good and the score was now 35-22 Choctaws.

Following the kickoff, Murrell got free and raced 57 yards before being knocked out of bounds at the 2 yard line. Two plays later, Murrell scored his fifth touchdown on a 4 yard run. Murrell added the two point conversion and Bibb was ahead 43-22.

The Hornet’s drive got off to a bad start as Brown was sacked by Logan Browning on first down for a ten yard loss. After two incompletions the Hornets again tried a fake punt deep in their own territory and were turned back again to give the Choctaws the ball at the Hornets 25 yard line. Four plays later Murrell scored his sixth touchdown of the first half from 2 yards out. Hughey added the extra point to widen the gap to 50-22 at the half.

The Hawg Squad catches a break after paving the way for over 400 rushing yards

The second half saw the Choctaws play their backups the rest of the game. The Hornets starters remained in due to the lack of numbers on their sidelines, but the Choctaws defense and offense continued to shine. Morrison scored the only touchdown of the third quarter on a 6 yard scamper. The extra point was no good leaving the score at 56-22.

Blaize Bishop scored on a five yard run early in the fourth quarter to make it 62-22.

The Hornets added a touchdown against the Choctaws backups in the fourth when Tyre scored on a 22 yard scamper. The conversion attempt was no good.

Jaison Taylor scored from 9 yards out for the Choctaws in the 4th quarter. JJ Tindell added the extra point for the Choctaws following Taylor’s touchdown to make the final score 69-28.

Murrell led the Choctaws with 186 yards on 16 carries and 5 touchdowns on the ground, He also added another touchdown via a kickoff return.

Cade Brown led the Choctaws defense with 11 tackles, 1 interception, and a forced fumble, all in the first half.

Morrison and Dillon Williams added 6 tackles for the Choctaws.

With the win, Bibb moves to 3-0 on the season and 1-0 in the region. The Choctaws once again will be on the road this week as they travel to Montevallo to take on the Bulldogs in another region matchup.

Kickoff will be at 7:00 pm this Friday. Hope to see you there.