Blue Devils Stumble In Season-Opener
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Last Friday’s season-opener was one of the hottest in memory as the temperature was still hovering near the triple-digit mark when the Blue Devils entered the field at Independence High School. The Blue Devils came up short against the Wildcats, 38 – 7.
Staff Report
INDEPENDENCE – The Water Valley Blue Devils traveled to Tate County to take on the Independence Wildcats in Friday’s season-opening contest. The homestanding Wildcats would come away with the victory by a 38 to seven margin.
The game would remain deadlocked for most of the first quarter as Independence took the opening short kickoff and marched near the Blue Devil Red Zone before junior defensive tackle Donalvin Wilson batted a pass into the air that was intercepted by senior linebacker Will Embry to end the Wildcats’ threat. Embry paced the Blue Devils defense with seven total tackles, four for loss, two sacks, and six hurries.
On the ensuing drive, a Wildcat end strip sacked Water Valley quarterback Tyler Richardson and gave them great field position inside the Blue Devil 20-yard line. The Wildcats would capitalize a few plays later as they scampered into the endzone for a rushing touchdown and would add the two-point conversion on a busted play and coverage.
Blue Devil signal caller Tyler Richardson looks for an open receiver against Independence.
Most of the rest of the first half would remain eight to nothing. The Blue Devils would threaten to score several times but were denied either by self-inflicted wounds or a Blitz-Happy Wildcats’ defense. Water Valley reached the Wildcats Red Zone thanks to a 38-yard passing Play from Richardson to senior wideout Taylen Johnson. As the second quarter was winding down, another Blue Devil miscue, this time an errant snap on the punt team gave the Wildcats another scoring opportunity deep in Blue Devil territory.
The Wildcats would again capitalize as their quarterback broke containment and scampered into the endzone for a 17-yard rushing touchdown. This left the contest at 16 to zero in favor of the home team at the midway break.
The Blue Devils would come out of the locker room energized and ready to go thanks to an electrifying opening kickoff return by senior Jaden Morgan. Morgan would lead the Blue Devils in both rushing and all-purpose yards on the night with 80 rushing yards, nine receiving yards, and 33 special teams return yards. He would also add seven tackles on defense.
Water Valley penetrated this opening drive as far as the Wildcats two-yard line thanks to a Richardson to Embry eight-yard pass reception on a fourth down and goal but again came up empty handed.
Zae Bradford runs out of running room in the season-opener against Independence Friday night.
The two teams would trade punts for a majority of the third quarter thanks to some stout plays on defense by junior linebacker Reid Burress, who led all Blue Devils with nine total tackles, and defensive linemen Wilson, junior Ky Cooke, and sophomore Parker Turnage. The backbreaking score came midway through the third frame when a coverage bust saw the only Wildcat passing touchdown of the evening.
The Blue Devils would not quit however, as is their custom, and added a score in the final frame as Morgan rushed off right tackle for a seven-yard rushing touchdown. Sophomore placekicker Gabe Butler added the Point After Touchdown.
“Let this one sting and hurt for twenty-four hours. Then, forget about it. One loss does not define us,” first-year head Coach Clint Faust told this to the team in the postgame huddle. “Come back with a renewed mindset to fix our mistakes and get better next week as we prepare for North Pontotoc.”
The Blue Devils (0-1) will travel to Ecru in Pontotoc County to face the Class 4A North Pontotoc Vikings on Friday, September 1, for a contest slated at 7 p.m.
