As the Mendenhall Tigers came into last week after a convincing win over the Florence Eagles, Head Coach Chuckie Allen was pleased with the way his team performed, but said they had plenty of things to work on.
The Tigers showed the fruits of their labor this week against the Raymond Rangers. Raymond has not been particularly known as a power house in football and were winless last season, but Allen wanted his team to approach the game with intensity.
The Tigers chose defense to start the game, but recovered the opening kickoff. From the start of the game it was evident that the Tigers outclassed their opponents. The short opening drive ended in a touchdown pass from Christian Allen to Keshun Collier in the back of the end zone.
Defensively the Tigers struggled early in the first game, but quickly righted the ship in the second half. The defense carried that momentum into their matchup against Raymond. It was evident that the Tigers worked on tackling during the week, because it was much improved. The Tigers swarmed the football and set the tone early, forcing a punt.
The Tiger offense was pass heavy through their first two possessions. A bad snap near midfield was a blessing in disguise, and saw Christian Allen recover the ball and take it 60 yards for a touchdown. Unfortunately it was called back due to a block in the back penalty. This was the second touchdown called back for the Tigers. The game needed to be cleaned up offensively, but it was much improved from last week. The drive ended in a punt.
Defensive Coordinator Derrick Jenkins had his troops locked in. Tabuiz Camper ended the next Ranger drive with an interception. The Rangers offered little resistance to the Tigers’ offensive attack. Allen continued to be efficient in the passing game and found BoBo Walker for his second passing touchdown of the game. Fans were excited to see #29 Malachi Estes trot onto the field. Estes is the team’s new kicker. The kicking was nonexistent in the first game. Freshman Estes invigorated the crowd after converting the extra point.
There were no bright spots for the Rangers throughout the first half. The Tigers kept constant pressure on the quarterback and forced mistakes. It was a revolving door of Tiger touchdowns and Ranger punts. Junkevious Mack widened the gap with another touchdown run. He was followed by Michael Simmons, who scored on an 80 yard touchdown run. Zay Duckworth took over as the Tigers’ key playmaker for a spell and gained big yards on back to back receptions completed by Allen. The Tigers went into halftime with a comfortable lead of 33-0.
Even with the lead Coach Allen was not pleased his team’s performance. He was particularly displeased with the number of penalty yards they racked up. Nevertheless once the half time break ended the team continued the onslaught.
The first play of the second half resulted in a 56 yard touchdown. The ball was run by Zay Duckworth, who started towards his right before reversing field and going the distance untouched. The play was not by design but was executed flawlessly. Estes continued to impress the fans and coaches. He became more consistent with extra points as the game went on, with the occasional miss sprinkled in.
Jenkins preached shut out to his defense, and they continued to play up to par. The first team defense did not give much ground and continued to be disruptive. Christian Allen threw another touchdown pass to Keshun Collier before the second unit took over. For the second week in a row the Tigers were able to work in their underclassmen. This experience may prove useful as the season progresses. Coaches were able to evaluate their reserves during live action.
The coveted shut out came to an end with 7:22 seconds left in the game. Raymond was able to put together a scoring drive led by freshman quarterback Trent Singleton. It did nothing to influence the game and the Tigers went on to win 53-6.
Defensive Coordinator Derrick Jenkins gave the defense a grade of B+. Jenkins said that the first group did a great job of setting the tone, but there was a slight drop when the second unit took the field. He said, “We have to get solidified from the first group all the way down.” Jenkins said he was happy with the overall performance.
Head Coach Chuckie Allen was concerned with the first half performance. He noted that the Tigers had over 100 yards in penalties, and that was unacceptable. He said, “We have to take it serious.” There was a big difference in the team’s performance in the second half. Allen said, “Talent wise we got it, but we have to be consistent.”
The Tigers will face their county rival Magee Trojans next week on Thursday. Both teams are entering the game undefeated at 2-0. This is an early meeting, but the intensity of the game is the same.
Jenkins, who is a Mendenhall native, is expecting big things. He smiled and said, “I’m a Tiger tried and true. We really want to go out there and give a hard fought game from both sides and give the fans what they want. We want to bring back that intensity to the rivalry.”
The game will be held at Trojan Field in Magee on Thursday, August 30, at 7 p.m.
