Vicksburg throttles Murrah, 34-0|[11/5/05]
Published 12:00 am Saturday, November 5, 2005
Alonzo Stevens has waited 10 weeks to see his Vicksburg Gators dominate like this.
Needing a Region 2-5A win in the worst way, Vicksburg came through with a complete effort to throttle Murrah 34-0 for a happy homecoming at Memorial Stadium.
The Gator defense took Murrah out of its offense and yielded just 38 total yards. Kicker John Howard kept the Mustangs deep in their own end and the Gator offense made use of a short field to score four touchdowns.
“Until tonight, we had not been playing on all cylinders,” Stevens said. “The defense was outstanding, again. John (Howard) kicked the ball extremely well and the offense did what it’s supposed to do.”
Vicksburg (6-4, 3-3) got more than a third of its total offense on its opening possession, driving 75 yards in 10 plays. Murrah (3-6, 1-4) helped out, getting hit with a 15-yard facemask and four offsides penalties within a seven-snap span.
Tyler Wells scored on a 6-yard end around to cap the six minute march. Howard booted the PAT for a 7-0 lead.
Howard had a chance to make it 10-0 but his 30-yard field goal was just wide.
Murrah, however, could not get going against a charged up Gator defense. It went three-and-out and a 20-yard punt left the Gators on the Mustang 48. VHS covered the distance in four plays, capped by Chavous McWhorter’s 16-yard TD run on the first play of the second quarter. Howard’s kick made it 14-0.
Another short Murrah punt started the Gators on the Mustang 34 midway through the second quarter. A 24-yard run by Jomar Hunt set up McWhorter’s 6-yard plunge to make it 21-0 after Jay Hall’s kick.
About the only thing to go wrong for the Gators in the first half was a fumbled exchange late in the half on which quarterback Stanton Price turned his ankle. He did not return.
“He could’ve went in the second half, but we didn’t want to take a chance,” Stevens said.
Freshman Les Lemons made his varsity debut and played the entire second half. Despite a lost fumble on his first play, Lemons came back with an 18-yard pass to Wells for a first down to the Murrah 22. Lemons then hit Jordan Henry on a 17-yard TD pass with 11 minutes left in the game to account for the final score at 34-0.
Defensive back Willis McGowan got the other touchdown when he returned an interception 65 yards. The pick was McGowan’s seventh of the season.
Murrah had just two plays for more than five yards, a 25- and a 19-yard run by Dujuon Cameron, who had moved from tailback to quarterback.
“We stuck to our game plan and got the V,” said Gator defensive end Joe Tolliver, who helped lead a defense that had nine tackles for losses.
Ten different backs carried the ball for VHS with Hunt leading the way with 53 yards, all in the first half. McWhorter had 40 on six carries.