Jefferson County puts up big win over Tylertown Chiefs

Published 1:32 am Saturday, October 13, 2007

TYLERTOWN — The Jefferson County Tigers followed up last week’s stunning upset win over defending Class 3A state champion Franklin County with a very impressive 32-12 win over the Tylertown Chiefs Friday night.

What perhaps was even more impressive was that Jefferson County won both of those games on the road in each team’s homecoming games. In fact, had it not been for a touchdown by South Pike in the waning seconds a few weeks ago, the Tigers would be undefeated.

Not only that, Tylertown went into its game with Jefferson County ranked No. 1 in Class 3A in one statewide poll and No. 2 in another statewide poll.

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“The offensive line did a great job like it has all year,” Jefferson County head coach James Herrington said. “We were able to shut them out. It was an overall team effort. Three phases are needed to win and we did it.”

Jefferson County (6-1, 3-1) broke the game open with a 20-point second quarter. Quarterback Percy Turner was involved in all three of the Tigers’ touchdowns in that game-changing quarter. He threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Cornelius Smith with 9:14 to go, then scored on a 12-yard run with 5:43 left and capped it off with a 68-yard touchdown pass to Henry Nichols with 1:49 remaining that gave them a 26-6 lead.

Tylertown (6-1, 3-1) scored on a 14-yard run by Tarasmine Young with three seconds left until halftime to make it a 26-12 game.

After a scoreless third quarter, Jefferson County iced the game with a 23-yard touchdown pass from Turner to Calvin Lewis with five minutes remaining.

“We were able to spread them out and find mismatches,” Herrington said “Our offensive line did an excellent job picking up the blitz and we took advantage of the mismatches in the secondary.”

Turner completed 14 of 28 passes for 285 yards with four touchdowns and, more importantly, no interceptions.

“All I know is week in and week out we come out ready to play. We’ll let others decide if we’re one of the best teams in 3A. We’ll just continue to play hard.”