McComb High School turned the ball over three times at home Friday night against Harrison Central, but all of them came in the first quarter as the Tigers fell behind 26-0 at the end of the period en route to a 53-40 loss.
Tigers center Ulyses Brown snapped the ball high on a fourth down conversion attempt inside the Red Rebels’ 10-yard-line, and Harrison Central recovered it at its own 27-yard-line with 5:50 to play in the first quarter. Harrison Central, already leading 6-0, was forced to punt five plays later, but turned the next two turnovers into touchdowns.
Cortland Gayten intercepted McComb quarterback Venchenza McCray’s pass, running it back for a 25-yard touchdown with 3:50 remaining in the first quarter to extend the Red Rebels’ lead to 12-0.
One play after Harrison Central’s Jordan Taylor recovered a fumble by Tigers running back Vincent Jones, Red Rebels quarterback Tavis Williams threw a 24-yard pass touchdown to Chase Jones to increase the lead to 26-0 with 1:44 left in the opening period. It was the first of three touchdown passes from Williams to Jones.
“Too many mistakes,” McComb head coach Jeffery Gibson said. “We’ve got to shore up the defense, go back to the drawing board working on fundamentals, because we’re giving up way too many points. But the kids — they fought back, and we’ve just got to continue to work.”
The Tigers (1-1) gave up 42 points in the 63-42 win in the season opener at home against Columbia.
Williams had 148 rushing yards for one touchdown for Harrison Central Friday night, while running back Keon Moore had 200 rushing yards for one touchdown.
Although the Tigers, a District 4A school, were unable to come from behind, they were able to create three turnovers against Harrison Central, a 6A school, and put drives together on offense.
Two plays following Gary Butler fumble recovery for McComb thanks to a high snap on a Harrison Central punt attempt, Ali Henson ran in a 4-yard touchdown for the Tigers with 10:39 remaining in the first half to cut the Red Rebels’ lead to 26-7.
McComb’s possession started on the Harrison Central 19, and Henson had two rushing and two receiving touchdowns on the night.
Henson caught a 23-yard touchdown pass from McCray with 3:48 remaining in the first half, capping a 12-play drive and cutting Harrison Central’s lead to 33-14.
McCray and Henson connected again on a 49-yard touchdown pass with 1:44 to play in the first half to pull the Tigers to within 13 at 33-20. Henson juggled the ball to hang on and make the catch.
McComb nose guard Lucky Davis also had an interception as the final seconds of the clock expired in the first half.
The Tigers head coach said his team has gotten better as the game progressed in the first two weeks.
“That’s a tendency with these young kids, but that’s no excuse,” Gibson said. “We’ve got to continue to work and get better. That’s all I’ll say. It wasn’t a district game. These games are to get us ready for district, so we’ll watch the film, look at the film and get ready to go from there.”
The Tigers created another turnover for a touchdown with 6:34 to play in the fourth quarter.
Harrison Central backup quarterback Jack Sajwaj fumbled in the McComb red zone, which Radell Washington of the Tigers recovered. Washington lateraled the ball to his teammate Jamarcus Johnson, who ran it back around 90 yards for a touchdown to cut the Red Rebels’ lead to 53-34.
Gibson put athletes in different positions, as Henson had 56 rushing and 117 receiving yards.
Jarquis Thornton is slated as a receiver, but he had three carries for 30 yards in the loss.
“Whatever it takes,” Gibson said. “We want to put the ball in our athletes’ hands and do whatever we can do to put points on the board.”
McComb will play its first road game of the season against Tylertown (2-0) at 7 p.m. Friday. “I appreciate the community coming out and continuing to come out and support us,” Gibson said. “We’ll continue to get better each and every week.”
HARRISON CENTRAL 53,
McCOMB 40
Score by Quarters
1 2 3 4 Tot.
Harrison Central 26 7 14 6 — 53
McComb 0 20 7 13 — 40
Scoring Summary
(First Quarter)
Harrison Central — Williams 1 run (Deleo kick fails), 8:54
Harrison Central — Gayten INT 25 yards (2-point conversion fails), 3:50
Harrison Central — Williams 61 run (Deleo kick), 2:43
Harrison Central — Williams 24 pass to Jones (Deleo kick), 1:44
(Second Quarter)
McComb — Henson 4 run (Patel kick), 10:39
Harrison Central — Moore 4 run (Deleo kick), 7:17
McComb — McCray 23 pass to Henson (Patel kick), 3:48
McComb —McCray 49 pass to Henson (Patel kick fails), 1:44
(Third Quarter)
Harrison Central — Williams 10 pass to Jones (Deleo kick), 8:09
McComb — Henson 20 run (Patel kick), 4:52
Harrison Central — Williams 20 pass to Jones (Deleo kick), 1:46
(Fourth Quarter)
Harrison Central — Gray 11 run (2-point conversion fails), 8:12
McComb — Johnson 90-yard run after Washington fumble recovery (Patel kick), 6:34
McComb — McCray 20 pass to Butler (2-point conversion fails), 1:40
Team Statistics
Harrison Central McComb
First Downs 19 18
Rushes-Yards 47-393 29-229
Passing Yards 55 141
Total Yards 448 370 Punts-Avg. 2-32.5 4-33.25
Fumbles-Lost 2-2 3-1
Penalties-Yds. 8-65 17-111
Individual Statistics
Rushing
Harrison Central — Moore 25-200, 1 TD, Williams 16-148, 1 TD, Gray 6-45, 1 TD.
McComb — McCray 12-68, Henson 7-56, 2 TDs , Vincent Jones 6-55, Thornton 3-30, D’Marion Jones 1-20.
Passing
Harrison Central — Williams 4-10 for 55 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT.
McComb — McCray 11-24 for 163 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT.
Receiving
Harrison Central — Jones 3-54, 3 TDs.
McComb — Henson 6-117, 2 TDs, Butler 2-42, 1 TD.
Defense
Harrison Central — Gayten INT TD, Gandy fumble recovery, Taylor fumble recovery.
McComb — Butler fumble recovery, Davis INT, Washington fumble recovery, Johnson TD on Washington fumble recovery.
