Dyer County rolls past Central in Troy, sets up region title battle with Haywood

Dyer County quarterback Landon Daniels (7) gets over a low tackler to pick up a first down during the Choctaws' win over Obion County Central on Friday night in Troy.

Photo/Jason Peevyhouse

By JASON PEEVYHOUSE

Sports Editor

With the bulk of their Region 7-4A schedule coming at the close of the season, the Choctaws (8-1, 3-0) were in the middle three straight region games to close out the season and Dyer County won its second straight by a large margin as the orange and white defeated Obion County Central 49-6 on the Rebels senior night in Troy on Friday.

“I told the kids that the teams that we’ve been better than we’ve pulled away from and put away,” Dyer County Head Coach David Whittle said. “I thought, at times tonight, we may have played down a little bit.

“But, I thought over all for the most part the game was never in jeopardy.”

Obion County Central looked like they were going to have all the momentum after recovering the onside kick to start the game. But, after a couple of first downs took the Rebels into the red zone, the Choctaw defense stepped up and forced a 30-yard field. In a further move of stepping up, Dyer County’s defense blocked the kick and it was recovered by Gavin Lynn who returned the ball to the Choctaw 39-yard line.

Dyer County immediately got an 18-yard completion from Landon Daniels to Devin Hayward took the Choctaws across midfield. Another pass from Daniels to Jamin Gauldin picked up a first down to the Obion County Central 22. Facing a fourth down, Daniels was forced to scramble and picked up a fresh set of downs at the Central 5-yard line. From there, Peron Isom took the ball into the end zone for the score. Tyler Fowlkes added the extra point to give Dyer County a 7-0 lead with 4:29 left in the opening frame.

The Choctaws continued to stifle the Rebels offensively, forcing Rebels to punt. But, for the second straight series, the Rebels struggled on special teams as a bad snap on the punt gave Dyer County excellent field position. This resulted in a 19-yard pass to Everett Kuykendall for a touchdown. The extra point extended the Choctaw lead to 14-0 with 3:18 left in the first frame.

Though Dyer County didn’t get into the end zone on it’s next possession, the Choctaws made up for it on defense. Ke’Anthony Barbee snagged an errant Central pass and returned it 40 yards for the touchdown. The PAT pushed Dyer County’s lead to 21-0 with 11:44 left in the second quarter.

Dyer County’s defense forced Central to punt again and another bad snap resulted in excellent field position for the Choctaws. Starting at the Rebel 19-yard line, Dyer County needed just three plays to score as Korey Taylor led the way and capped the short drive with a five-yard run for the touchdown. The extra point pushed Dyer County’s lead to 28-0 with 8:46 left in the half.

Central was finally able to answer on it’s next possession, capping its only successful drive of the game with a 12-yard run by Rucker Moore with 3:46 left in the third quarter. But, the extra point attempt failed as Dyer County held a 28-6 lead.

The Choctaws were able to get one more score in the first half, getting a Ja’Bari Livingston run for the score with 1:26 left in the half to cap an eight-play drive. Fowlkes’ PAT put Dyer County on top 35-6 at the half.

After getting the ball back early in the third quarter, an eight-yard run by Hayward capped another scoring drive for Dyer County. The extra point pushed the Choctaw lead to 42-6 with 9:21 left in the third quarter and also put the mercy rule into effect.

The Choctaws tacked on another touchdown in the fourth quarter as Bryce Fulton scored on a 42-yard run with about seven minutes left in the game. The extra point put Dyer County on top 49-6 for the remainder of the game.

“The main thing is we played physical football and got out of here injury-free,” Whittle added.

Livingston led the way for the Choctaws on the ground with six carries for 59 yards and a touchdown. Fulton was right on his heels with three carries for 58 yards and a score.

Daniels with 7-of-11 for 74 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Kuykendall led the way for the receivers with two catches for 39 yards and a touchdown.

All totaled, Dyer County had 314 yards of offense on the night.

Dyer County will close out the regular season on Thursday as the Choctaws host Haywood at 7 p.m. for the orange and white’s senior night. The Tomcats defeated Crockett County on Friday night meaning both teams will come into the Halloween night match-up at 3-0 in Region 7-4A and the winner will get the region title.

“We’ve got to focus and continue to do what we do,” Whittle explained. “Not a lot of tricks in this game, you know.

“You line up and you block and tackle. Whoever is the most physical team usually wins the football game. I think that’s going to be the key for us next week – we need to be physical. If we can be physical and play assignment football it’ll give us a chance to win.”