By: Daniel Simmons
Last Friday evening, August 25, the WSHS football team traveled to West Ouachita High School for the Jamboree. The Tigers faced the West Ouachita Chiefs in a JV game and a varsity game. The JV tied with the Chiefs 0-0, while the varsity lost their game 14-6. The loss will not count towards the varsity record for the season, as the Jamboree is not a regulation game. The varsity Jamboree consists of two 15-minute halves, rather than four 12-minute quarters like a regular season game would.
The Tiger JV squad appeared to have scored a touchdown at one point late in their game, but it was called back by a holding penalty, keeping the score tied at 0, where it would remain for the rest of the game. The varsity Tigers started off strong, recovering a Chiefs fumble on the opening kickoff return. On the ensuing drive, the Tigers faced a 4th down and 7 and elected to go for it. Quarterback Damascus Lewis dropped back to pass and threw to a wide open Ryan Davis in the end zone for a touchdown, giving Winnfield an early 6-0 lead. Davis had a very productive game. He was the leading pass catcher for the Tigers in the game, catching more passes and getting more receiving yards than any other player on the team. After the opening touchdown, the Tigers recovered another West Ouachita fumble on the very next drive, but threw an interception soon after and did not convert the fumble recovery into points on the board. After the interception, the Chiefs drove down the field and threw a touchdown pass of their own. The PAT was good, giving the Chiefs a 7-6 lead which they would take into halftime.
The Tigers received the second half kickoff and started out on offense, but were soon forced to punt it away. A short punt set up the Chiefs with good field position for their first drive of the half. The Chiefs offense leaned heavily on their running game and were successful, wearing down the Tiger defense in the process. The Chiefs picked up some free yards on an offsides penalty, then on the very next play the quarterback ran about 20 yards for a touchdown to extend the lead to 14-6. The Tigers made a couple of nice plays on the following drive, including a long improvisational run by Damascus Lewis on a busted play. They also drew the Chiefs defense offsides on a 4th down and 1 to pick up a first down. It appeared that the Tigers had given themselves a chance to tie the game when Lewis threw another touchdown pass to Ryan Davis on a 4th down and long, however the touchdown was erased due to a holding penalty. Lewis’ pass fell incomplete on the next play, turning the ball over on downs. West Ouachita then ran the clock out to seal the 14-6 victory.
At long last, the real deal begins this Friday, September 1. The Tigers will kick off the regular season with a road contest at Pineville High School against the Pineville Rebels. The Tigers will look to replicate their success from last year’s contest against the Rebels, which the Tigers won 33-6
