By Jasmine Jones
Photos Courtesy Tiger Snaps
Last Friday, Sept. 13, the Winnfield Tigers played the Caldwell Spartans in a home game at Stokes-Walker Stadium winning 22-7 and improving to 2-0. Both the offense and the defense played very well despite the less than ideal conditions they faced.
All of the recent rainfall made a very wet field, limiting what the Tigers could do in terms of plays but they still came out on top. Early in the game a run by Jaylon Jackson brought the Tigers 55 yards all the way to the Caldwell 25 yard line. Later in the second quarter Detavious Williams intercepted the ball on a pass at the Caldwell 23 yard line allowing the Tigers to gain possession of the ball where a series of plays allowed them to get close enough for Jaylon Jackson to score a touchdown putting the Tigers 6-0 against the Spartans. Soon after, John Micheal Pickett intercepted the ball allowing Winnfield to gain possession of the ball again.
In the second half of the game the Tigers had the ball first and, with a series of rushes by Zaelyn Thomas and Damascus “Tank” Lewis, Winnfield was able to score another touchdown with Jaylon Jackson on the carry. This was followed by a two point conversion bringing the score to 14-0. In the fourth quarter, a rush by John Micheal Pickett got the Tigers a first down and it was soon followed by another with a run by Jeremy Mamon. This series allowed Tank Lewis to make a touchdown, which was again followed by another two point conversion. Overall the Winnfield defense held the Caldwell Spartans to just seven points. In particular Javonta Grisby, Logan Adams, John Micheal Pickett, and Jeremy Mamon who consistently broke up plays brought the advancement of the other team to a stop. With these combined efforts, at the end of the game the score stood 22-7.
“Our defense played extremely well,” says head coach Jay Watson. “We need to clean up penalties but I was very proud of our offensive linemen tonight. I am also very proud of our quarterback [Nickalas Mockosher]”. When asked about his overall impression of the night he stated “I was very pleased with our team performance. I enjoyed how much our defense hated giving up the score at the end. The duo of Jaylon Jackson and Tank Lewis really played out tonight. We did the best that we could with the wet field and bad conditions.”
Next week the Winnfield Tigers will play at home on Friday, September 20 at Stokes-Walker Stadium at seven o’clock in a battle of the unbeatens against the West Ouachita Chiefs (current record 2-0). The weather will be sunny at 95 degrees with no chance of rain in the forecast. Consider coming out to support the Winnfield Tigers!
