Wayne County holds on for 10-6 victory over West Jones

JONES COUNTY, MS (WDAM) - With Wayne County and West Jones high schools ensnarled in a desperate defensive battle Friday night, it just felt like the team that could find a way to make just one or two big plays was going to walk out of Mustang Field with a season-opening victory.

For a moment, it appeared West Jones backup sophomore quarterback Alan Follis may have done just that, ripping off a 53-yard run late in the third quarter to set up tie-breaking field goal on the first snap of the final period.

But then freshman Kelnevious Walley turned the table in the War Eagles' favor, returning the ensuing kickoff nearly to midfield.

Walley's 42-yard dash set up the only sustained drive of the game, a 52-yard effort that junior quarterback Zhakerreun Wesley capped with a 4-yard dart up the middle that provided the winning margin in Wayne County's 10-6 victory.

"They hit it right and that gave us momentum going down the field," said Shelton Gandy, who picked up his inaugural victory in his first game as Wayne County coach. "That was big."

Decisive, as it turned out although Gandy and the War Eagles left the door open with less than 10 seconds to play, mismanaging the game clock in the final two-plus minutes to give the Mustangs two cracks throwing into the end zone from the Wayne County 15-yard line.

After stopping West Jones on downs at the War Eagles' 41-yard line with 2:17 left in the game, Wesley downed three consecutive deep snaps, pushing the ball back to the 25-yard line with a little less than 12 seconds to play.

On fourth down, the War Eagles were hit with a delay of game penalty, shortening the field another 5 yards. When Wayne County did snap their final play, Wesley slipped with one knee hitting the ground soon after he started to scramble in the backfield to try and run out the clock.

That gave Follis two shots to win the game with 8.4 seconds to go. His first pass was too high for Byron Young in the deep right corner of the end zone, and his last pass ticked off the straining fingertips of Tajrick Randolph in the front left corner of the end zone.

"We were trying to get (Wesley) to slow down, and not go down so fast, and we'll work on that," Gandy said. "On my (coaching) chart, with only two minutes left and no timeouts, they should never have got the ball back, so that's on me.

"You feel bad. These kids played their hearts out, and then because of a coaching mistake, we mess up the game and (nearly) give them. But it came out in the end."

For most of the night, both team's hard-hitting defenses dominated, with first downs as rare as snow in south Mississippi. Three-yard runs were morale victories as ballcarriers were stopped cold, as if running into a wall.

West Jones mangled its offensive opportunities by repeatedly mishandling  center snaps. On at least a half dozen occasions, snaps went through or off quarterbacks, who then had to turn and fall on the bounding ball, putting the Mustangs behind the chains against a defense that wasn't budging much even when the down and distance were reasonable.

Those losses were usually 10 yards or more, with one a 26-yard misplay that saw senior starting quarterback Dusty Cook exit the game in the aftermath, hopping off the field on a gimpy leg on the Mustangs first possession of the second half.

"We missed too many snaps," West Jones coach Scott Pierson said. "Every time I looked up, our quarterbacks don't catch the ball and we're not good enough offensively to overcome that."

Especially Friday, when the few points scored were set up by big plays outside the norm.

The War Eagles took a 3-0 halftime lead on Tyrek Spencer's 31-yard field in the first quarter after Wayne County recovered a West Jones fumble and returned it to the 15-yard line.

The Mustangs tied the game in the third quarter. A 54-yard punt by senior Walker Thompson pinned Wayne County at its 4-yard line. On the following return punt by the War Eagles, senor safety/receiver/daredevil Antonie Kirk scooped the low liner on the third bounce, broke past the first wave and scurried 26 yards to the Wayne County 16-yard line.

The War Eagles held the Mustangs out of the end zone but Thompson's 27-yard field goal tied the game with 3:17 left in the third quarter.

After West Jones forced a three-and-out, Follis took the first snap of the offensive possession, slipped to his right and raced 53 yards down to the 15-yard line. Thompson's 36-yard field goal gave West Jones a 6-3 lead as the fourth quarter opened.

But Walley's kickoff return lit a fire in the War Eagles and behind Wesley (22 yards on four carries, two pass completions for 12 yards) and Walley (33 yards on three carries), the War Eagles regained the lead, and then held on for dear life at game's end.

"I like this team, I like the character they showed," Pierson said. "First game of the year, it doesn't make or break you. It just shows you where you need to get better."

Gandy, a Waynesboro native who was a star running back in high school, tried to sort through his thoughts at game's end.

"I've kind of been trying to prepare for this for a long time and it's been a long time coming," Gandy said. "I was just so proud of these kids.

"But just getting the opportunity to come back to Wayne County, where I was born and raised, to have an opportunity to work with these kids … I've been all over, working with kids, so why not these kids, and why not me, and why not now?"

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