By Stan Caldwell
stanmansportsfan.com
BROOKLYN – For Forrest County AHS, it was a case of two steps forward and one step back in the Aggies’ 2018 football home opener Friday night at Henley Field.
FCAHS showed plenty of promise, but too many little mistakes proved too much to overcome in a hard-fought 20-12 defeat at the hands of Perry Central.
Forrest County dropped to 0-2 under first-year head coach Brad Calcote. Perry Central, also under a rookie head coach in Wesley McLain, evened its record at 1-1.
“Perry Central has a lot of great football players,” said Calcote. “We’d do something awesome, then come back and we’d hurt ourselves. We’d earn that five (yards), then we’d give that five right back. But we can fix that. We played hard and that’s what I wanted to see.”
FCAHS had one critical turnover, late in the game, while driving for a possible tying score, and committed 11 penalties for 66 yards – most of them drive-killing motion penalties.
The Aggies opened the game strong, though, taking the opening kickoff 69 yards on nine plays, mostly with senior tailback Jaiborhi Fairley running hard between the tackles. Fairley got the score on a 27-yard scamper with 7:59 to play in the first quarter.
“We have to just keep fighting and cut down on the mistakes,” said Fairley, who finished with 96 yards on 13 carries and both Aggie scores. “We got back in the game, and when we get chances like we had, we have to capitalize on them.”
FCAHS showed off a stable of backs that racked up 238 yards rushing, including 85 yards on 12 carries in the second half by junior Devonte Dixon and 57 yards by senior Jamal Myers.
But Perry Central showed the ability to run inside as well, led by senior Derrick Hartfield, who carries 20 times for 109 yards and a touchdown.
“We have eight really good seniors who play on both sides of the ball, and it was a battle tonight,” said McLain. “Obviously, it still August, so it’s really hot, so you have to really evaluate who you’re going to have in the third and fourth quarters.”
In the second quarter, though, it was sophomore quarterback James Bolton who showed his clutch ability throwing the ball, converting two fourth-down passes for touchdowns of 15 yards to senior Kevin Lindsey and 37 yards to senior Nekylyn Moody.
Hartfield’s PAT run gave Perry Central a 14-6 lead that the Bulldogs took into the halftime locker room.
Bolton, a rangy 6-foot-3, 195-pounder, completed 4 of 7 passes for 54 yards, but kept the mistakes to a minimum in operating the Bulldog offense.
“James is going to be a great player; I think he’s going to be a college guy some day,” said McLain. “He’s done a really good job running the offense for us. I can’t say enough good things about him. He works really hard.”
The Bulldogs extended their lead on the first possession of the second half, needing just three plays to drive 57 yards.
Bolton took a busted play six yards, then Hartfield burst around right end for a 30-yard pickup, then ran the same play 23 yards for the score.
Perry Central looked like it was about to put the game away late in the third quarter, driving to the Aggie 42.
But on the first play of the final period, the Bulldogs lost the football, and Forrest County showed renewed life, driving 66 yards on nine plays, with Fairley scoring on a 6-yard run with 7:34 to play.
The Aggies got a stop and were driving when they lost the football at the Bulldog 22. By the time they got it back, only 27 seconds were left on the clock, not enough time to pull off a miracle.
“We have a long way to go, and I don’t say that to down our guys,” said Calcote, who came to FCAHS from Stone High. “We want to be a team that’s tougher than the teams we play. We want to run the ball and we’ve taken some steps to do that.
“We have some promising backs, but only one football.”
Forrest County will be back home next week against Pearl River Central, while Perry Central will make its home debut next week against Pass Christian.
GAME SUMMARY
Friday at Brooklyn
Perry Central 20, Forrest County AHS 12
Perry Central 0 14 6 0 – 20
Forrest County 6 0 0 6 – 12
First Quarter
FC – Jaibohri Fairley 27 run (Pass failed), 7:59 (9 plays/69 yards/4:01 possession).
Second Quarter
PC – James Bolton 15 pass to Kevin Lindsey (Kick failed), 10:17 (13/61/5:33).
PC – Bolton 37 pass to Nekylyn Moody (Derrick Hartfield run), 3:55 (7/57/3:05)
Third Quarter
PC – Hartfield 23 run (Kick failed), 10:40 (3/57/1:20).
Fourth Quarter
FC – Fairley 6 run (Pass failed), 7:34 (9/66/4:13).
TEAM STATISTICS
PC FC
First downs 12 15
Total yards 234 238
Rushes-yards 35-180 48-238
Passing yards 54 0
Comp-Att-Int 4-7-0 0-3-0
Fumbles-lost 2-1 7-1
Penalties-yards 5-25 11-66
Punts-total (avg.) 4-146 (36.5) 4-110 (27.5)
3rd down conv. 3-9 7-12
4th down conv. 2-2 0-0
Time of possession 20:39 27:21
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
Perry Centreal– Derrick Hartfield 20-109, Tyrion Sumrall 8-50, Nekylyn Moody 3-14, James Bolton 4-7; Forrest County AHS – Jaibohri Fairley 13-96, Devonte Dixon 12-85, Jamal Myers 11-57, Josh Daniels 3-9, Steven Miranda 1-8, Cameron Herrin 1-3, Cole Kendrick 7-(-20).
Passing
Perry Central – James Bolton 4-7-0-54; Forrest County AHS – Cole Kendrick 0-3-0-0.
Receiving
Perry Central – Nekylyn Moody 2-41, Kevin Lindsey 1-15, Jaden Scott 1-(-2).
