TORNADOES EARN HARD-FOUGHT WIN OVER KEMPER COUNTY

The Philadelphia Tornadoes took the early lead but then had to hold on for a 16-8 victory over Kemper County in prep football action Friday night at Harpole field. The Tornadoes improve to 4-0 and will play at home this Friday night when they host the Quitman High School Panthers. The two teams have split in the past two years. Philadelphia won 21-10 in 2015 and Quitman won 21-13 in 2016. Quitman dropped a 37-15 decision to Greene County last week. Tornadoes’ Coach Teddy Dyess was pleased with the outcome of the Kemper County game but said the Tornadoes have a lot of mistakes to correct. “You should be happy with the win but not with the way we played,” Dyess said immediately after the game. “After looking at the film, we played hard. Kemper County has seven starters coming back on defense from last year’s state championship team and they were a solid group. “We will work on the Tornadoes this week as we get ready for Quitman. They are a good team. They have a good quarterback and a solid defense.” Philadelphia 16, Kemper County 8 Both teams generated some Impressive numbers on offense . Also, they both racked up some serious penalty yardage. Kemper County was penalized 17 times for 155 yards while Philadelphia lost 119 yards on 15 calls. Both teams lost two fumbles and the Kemper County had one interception. The offensive yardage was impressive. Philadelphia had 188 yards rushing and 132 yards passing for 320 total yards. Three different passers combined to complete 7-of-15 passing attempts. The Wildcats, meanwhile, racked up 317 total yards. The Wildcats completed 14-of-27 passing attempts for 246 yards while rushing for 71 markers on 24 carries. The Tornadoes got on the scoreboard early. They took the opening kickoff and drove the Kemper County 18 before fumbling the ball away. Kemper County fumbled the ball back to the Tornadoes on the next play. On the next play, Stetson Moore caught a 19-yard TD pass from Lideatrick Griffin. Cortney Smith ran the two point conversion in and the Tornadoes led 8-0 with 8:50 left in the first quarter. Kemper County took the kickoff and ran off 10 plays before having to punt. On first down, Trey Crockett passed to Griffin for a 43-yard touchdown pass. Smith ran in the two point conversion and the Tornadoes led 16-0 with 5:49 left in the first quarter. That would be all the points the Tornadoes would score. Philadelphia got down to the Kemper 1-yard line but the half ended before they could score. Kemper County took the second half kickoff and ran eight plays before punting. The Tornadoes took over and drove deep into Kemper County territory. That drive lasted nine plays but ended on the Kemper County 15-yard line when the Tornadoes lost a fumble. On first down, sophomore quarterback De’ontre Rush passed to Quanderius Bohannon for an 85-yard touchdown reception. The two point conversion was successful and the Wildcats were within eight points of the Tornadoes with 5:55 left in the third quarter. Neither team would score again as the defenses on both teams took over. Smith rushed for 156 yards on 28 carries to lead the Tornadoes. Griffin rushed three times for 34 yards. He also caught three passes for 77 yards, and completed one pass for 19 yards, giving him 130 total yards. Chris Griffin was the leading tackler with 14 tackles for the Tornadoes. Demontae Moore had 10 tackles; Malek Collier had nine tackles and Stefun King had eight. Moore and Collier both had a sack. Griffin had an interception and a fumble recovery. Malik Hickman had a fumble recovery. Rush accounted for all of the Wildcats’ passing yards and rushed five times for 24 yards, giving him 270 total yards. Rondarius Gowdy rushed eight times for 41 yards. Macuntae Turner had five catches for 72 yards while Bohannon caught four passes for 93 yards. Tra’Kalab Welch had 13 tackles; Trajan Tanksley had 11; and, Senious Williams had nine. The Wildcats had seven sacks, led by Recadre Moore and Tanksley with two each. The Wildcats are still looking for their furst victory as they drop to 0-4. Kemper County will host West Lauderdale on Friday.

TORNADOES EARN HARD-FOUGHT WIN OVER KEMPER COUNTY

Photo Credit: Philadelphia Athletics

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