The Mendenhall Tigers’ season came to an end last Friday following a hard-fought game against the Poplarville Hornets. The Tigers went down swinging in a tightly contested matchup that was decided by one point with a final score of 26-27.
The game took on a back-and-forth nature early with both teams scrapping for every inch on the football field. Both defenses played well, and the teams swapped possessions through much of the first quarter. The Hornets scored first in the final minutes of the first quarter. Poplarville relied heavily on their rushing attack and misdirection from the wing-t formation.
Ty Davis led the Tiger offense onto the field to start the second quarter, and answered. The Tigers had a balanced attack as they moved the ball down the field. Davis connected with receivers Henry Funchess, Vincent Dixon, and Cameron Smith. Eddie Weathersby led the charge in the backfield, moving the ball to the one-yard line. Davis finished the drive with a 1-yard rushing touchdown to even the score at 7-7 following an Anson Fewell extra point.
The score remained tied through halftime. The Tigers got the ball to start the second half and eventually scored with five minutes remaining in the third quarter on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Davis to Funchess to put the Tigers ahead 13-7. But the lead didn’t stand for long as Poplarville drove the ball down the field and punched it in from 4 yards out. The score was tied at 13-13 entering the fourth quarter.
Every play was critical down the stretch as the teams remained tied until midway through the fourth quarter. Tiger senior linebacker Princeton Miller made a great play, forcing a fumble after a Poplarville tight end caught a pass. The fumble was scooped up by Eddie Weathersby and returned 42 yards for a touchdown to give the Tigers a 20-13 lead.
The Hornets responded again to even the game at 20-20. With less than two minutes to play, Davis completed a short pass to Vincent Dixon, who broke two tackles and made a defender miss before reversing field and racing 68 yards for a touchdown to give the Tigers the lead. The snap was mishandled on the next extra point attempt and the Tigers led 26-20 with 1:30 left in the game.
Poplarville started their drive and managed to hit on two chunk plays that set up their game winning touchdown. The Hornets connected on their extra point to take a one-point lead. The Tigers took over with less than 50 seconds remaining and gave a valiant effort but came up short. It was a tough loss, but a great effort from the young team. The experience will pay dividends as the Tigers prepare for next season.
Head Coach Chuckie Allen thanked the seniors for their contribution to the program and their leadership this season.
Allen said, “Our seniors grew up a lot from last season to this one. We had a vocal leader and several guys that lead by example. We have come a long way from the beginning of the season till now. I’m excited about their future as well as ours.”
