FERRIDAY — A slow start doomed the Delta Charter Storm in their matchup with Tensas.

Despite racking up 24 second half points, the Storm fell to Tensas 46-30.

“We came out of the gate slow,” Delta Charter head coach Jarrett Hoffpauir said. “They scored on the first drive and we answered, but after that we kind of fell off. We didn’t play well the rest of the first half. We couldn’t do anything to slow them down, and they pounded us.

Tensas scored 34 first half points to take a 34-6 lead into halftime.

But the Storm weren’t going away easy.

“At halftime we talked about playing as a team and causing some turnovers,” Hoffpauir said. “We came out and moved the ball well and defensively swarm tackled like we had to. If we had played four solid quarters, it was a different ball game, but we have to learn from it and move on.”

Hoffpauir said a bright spot for Delta Charter in the game was the emergence of Jalen Williams.

“Jalen played a heck of a game,” he said. “We took him out of his comfort zone and put him at linebacker and we let him run the ball from the running back spot and he did well. He is probably going to be back there along with some other guys moving forward.”

Under center, Hoffpauir said quarterback Trey Poole had a decent game, but is still learning.

“He forced a few balls, but all-in-all he threw it well,” he said. “He’s a ninth grader and he’ll learn from it.”

Poole finished the game 8-of-19 for 84 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions.

Hoffpauir said he was glad his team was able to fight back in the game, giving them something to build on heading into next week.

“The kids were excited the second half and understand how good they can be,” Hoffpauir said. “They know we have to play four solid quarters because two and three won’t win against good teams.”

Next up for Delta Charter is a district game at Delhi Charter.