While he wasn't too pleased that his team blew a 14-point fourth-quarter lead against Edinburg on Friday, Ethel head football coach Paul Dees was glad to see how it responded to the challenge with the game on the line.
"The fact I was proudest of was that we didn't let all of the bad stuff get us down," Dees said. "After they tied the game we went right down the field and retook the lead."
Freshman quarterback Connor Hill's 2-yard touchdown run and subsequent two-point conversion lifted the homestanding Tigers to a 29-21 win over Region 3-1A foe Edinburg.
Ethel, now 2-1 overall and 2-0 in league play, travels to Walnut Grove on Friday night to face Region 3-1A foe South Leake. The Wildcats are also 2-1 on the season and are ranked No. 9 in the state in Class 1A by the Mississippi Prep Sports Source.
"They are big and physical and they can run," Dees said of South Leake. "They have a good team and are going to be tough to beat."
Dees said penalties were not Ethel's friend in the eight-point win over Edinburg.
"We had over 100 yards in penalties and that did not allow us to take care of our business," he said. "Every time we had a positive play, something bad happened. We had a 70-yard touchdown called back."
When senior quarterback Hunter Dempsey went down with an ankle injury midway of the second quarter, Hill stepped in to lead the EHS offense.
"Well, he has got some experience now," he said. "I thought he ran the offense real well and did what we asked him to do."
Dees said Dempsey was day-to-day and was questionable for the game against South Leake.
Ethel took a 14-0 first quarter lead on touchdown runs of 5 and 1 yards by Keith Collins and a pair of extra point kicks by Dempsey.
The Tigers stretched that out to 21-0 in the second quarter when Hill hit Deangelo Hall with a 35-yard scoring pass and Michael Erving kicked the point after. Edinburg cut it to 21-7 at the half on a 65-yard punt return for a touchdown by Dekarian Wells.
The Eagles tied the game on touchdown runs of 2 and 65 yards by quarterback Mitchell Wooten in the fourth quarter. The Eagles missed an extra point attempt that would have given them a 22-21 lead.
That set up Ethel's game-winning drive.
Troymun Hawthorne led the Tigers with 90 rushing yards on 13 carries, while Collins had 12 attempts for 42 yards and Hill had five attempts for 45 yards. As a team the Tigers rushed for 209 yards.
Hill hit on 6-of-9 passes for 54 yards, while Dempsey hit on 3-of-4 for 37 yards. Antez Hopkins had six catches for 45 yards to lead the Tigers, while Collins had 12 tackles and DeVonte Winters had seven.
Erving intercepted two passes for the Tigers.
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Leslie N. Dees
Tigers stay undefeated in Region 3-1A action
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