The McComb Tigers struggled for another win on Friday night, this time beating North Pike 26-7.
The Tigers overcame 16 penalties, while the Jaguars weren’t able to overcome myriad of bad snaps and a momentum-stealing fumble.
The Jaguars came out and took it to the Tigers on North Pike’s first drive. The Jaguars used seven plays to cover 62 yards. LaDerrick Turner scored on a 7-yard run to go up 7-0 a little over three minutes in.
“They did the same thing Brookhaven did against us,” McComb head coach Randy Martin said. “We came out too high emotionally and were overplaying everything.”
After McComb went three-and-out and snapped the punt over punter Dontrel Sargent’s head in their first series, North Pike took over on McComb’s 30.
The Jaguars made it to the 2-yard line before a holding penalty and a bad snap pushed the ball back to the 27-yard line. North Pike’s third and fourth down pass attempts fell incomplete to give the ball back to the Tigers.
McComb used its short passing game to move the ball down the field. Kiam Magee had three receptions on the drive, including a 31-yard slant that gave the Tigers first-and-goal. Quarterback Anthony Daniels ran it in from there to tie the game at the start of the second quarter.
McComb went on to score twice more in the quarter, while North Pike started making mistakes.
Keiron Robinson dropped the kickoff and had to fall on the ball before the Tiger coverage could. On first down, Turner broke upfield but fumbled after a 15-yard gain, and McComb beat the ball to the sideline to recover it for another possession in Jaguar territory.
“I don’t feel like they stopped us all night,” North Pike head coach Chris Smith said. “We’re a young team that makes too many young mistakes.”
Justin Powell broke a 13-yard run on the ensuing third-and-8, and Kiam Magee caught a 27-yard pass to set up Michael Taylor’s 6-yard touchdown run with four minutes left before half. The Tigers missed the extra point.
Three North Pike plays didn’t go anywhere, and the Jaguars lined the punt right to McComb’s Bobby Felder.
Felder broke it to the right and ran past the coverage up the sideline for 56 yards and the third score of the quarter. The conversion failed and the Tigers were up 19-7.
The Jaguars drove down to the 2-yard line with 11 seconds left after they spiked the ball. Facing fourth-and-goal Smith sent out his field goal unit. The try was blocked and whistled dead, even though McComb had recovered and was trying to return it.
The Tigers had to settle for going into half up 19-7.
Neither team did much in the third quarter. North Pike’s only possession of the quarter ended at McComb’s 20-yard line on another bad snap, this time it came on fourth-and-seven.
The Tigers scored twice on their next drive, but both touchdowns were called back because of penalties. Kiam Magee caught a 74-yard pass that netted the Tigers just 20 yards after the penalty because of a block in the back and after a false start was called on McComb. Bobby Felder broke what would have been a 59-yard reception for a touchdown before it was called back for a gain of five net yards on another block in the back.
The Tigers committed six penalties in the space of eight plays and had to punt after two incomplete passes ended the drive at their own 40-yard line.
“We would get momentum going and it would get shot,” Martin said. “We’re still having to learn to overcome mistakes. We need to swing momentum and play with it instead of making more mistakes.”
On the Jaguars’ next series, North Pike launched a snap over quarterback Revis Butler’s head, and Ben Slaton recovered for the Tigers.
Edgar Smith didn’t waste any time putting up the final score with a 25-yard run, followed by a 17-yard touchdown to make it 26-7 after the kick sailed through the uprights.
North Pike played “the best all-around ballgame of the year,” Smith said. The Jaguars responded early to the sizeable crowd that showed up. The crowd even surprised Smith with how many fans attended.
“Our kids aren’t used to this type of crowd,” he said. “At home they’re scattered all over that hill and they aren’t as loud, but this had the atmosphere of a playoff game. We brought a good crowd, and they had a good crowd and it helped us.”
