TALLULAH — Friday’s grudge match between two crossriver rivals was one of opportunities, both taken advantage of and lost.

The difference was that Tallulah took advantage of more of theirs in a 27-23 victory over PCA.

“We’re going to get back to work and we’ll improve drastically,” PCA senior quarterback Colby Rushing said. “We just had a few mental mistakes. We’re really close to being where we want to be.”

The Eagle missed out on a crucial opportunity to pick up serious momentum after Zach Rachal dropped Cody Landrem in the end zone for a safety. The Eagles got the ball back on the free kick and drove down to the Tallulah 15, but Kyle Erwin hauled down Colby Rushing for a big loss and PCA fell short on fourth-and-11 at the Tallulah 21-yard line.

Tallulah scored on its next drive, a 12-play 82-yard march capped by Jes Shivers, who found favorite target John Robert Fortenberry open in the end zone for a 23-yard touchdown. It would be the beginning of a monster game for Tallulah’s senior quarterback.

He completed 2 of 3 passes for 58 yards, rushed for 92 yards and two scores and had a 44-yard kickoff return that set up another Tallulah TD.

PCA took advantage of its next opportunity, as a Cody Landrem fumble ended a promising drive in Eagle territory. Rushing hit Montana McDaniel for a 20-yard completion and two plays later, shivered loose for a 15-yard scramble to set up a 9-yard run by John Michael Harris.

Then, the Eagles made their biggest mistake of the night and Tallulah cashed in big time. Shivers took the kickoff return back 44 yards and scored a few plays later to give Tallulah a lead it would never relinquish.

“That was a bad call by me,” PCA coach Bill Fleming said about the decision to kick the ball deep to Shivers.

Weaver elected to go for it on fourth down and seven to go on the PCA 41 early in the fourth. He called a pass play and the call got jumbled into a running play that PCA stopped, giving them great field position near midfield.

Weaver went for the dagger, but found that the blade was quickly turned on him.

“Our signals got mixed up out there,” Weaver said. “I noticed they had no safety and I figured we could hit it over the top.”

But the decision, questionable at the time, would not hurt the Trojans. Todd Harrell jumped a route downfield on PCA’s first play after the turnover on downs and took the interception to the house to put Tallulah up 27-9 with more than eight minutes remaining.

PCA then got a couple of scores from Rushing to draw close before failing to recover an onsides kick.

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Contact Steve Wilson at swilson@vicksburgpost.com