Friday sports: Football Friday night scores
Photo: Olive Branch football players gather on the field ahead of Friday’s game against Cleveland Central. (Bob Bakken/desotocountynews.com)
Sep 6, 2024 – Mother Nature couldn’t avoid a repeat performance Friday night and the rain and lightning show presentation left one DeSoto County high school football game to end early and another to approach the midnight hour before the game was completed.
The game that ended early was at Olive Branch, where the Conquistadors hosted the Cleveland Central Wolves.
While the Wolves were able to complete a 42-0 shutout victory over Clarksdale last week, lightning forced the Olive Branch-Evangelical Christian School contest to not even get started, and the contest was canceled.
Friday’s game started on time after a pre-game rain shower doused the turf at Poole Field ahead of kickoff, and Cleveland Central took the early lead on a touchdown run from Kaleb Perry for a 7-0 lead. However, Olive Branch answered with a late first quarter drive that ended with a one-yard run from running back Kylan Rhodes, a touchdown that tied the game at 7-7 after one quarter.
A scoreless second quarter quickly gained steam in the last three minutes as the teams approached halftime. The Wolves scored first with a five-yard pass play from Tulane commit Javaris Beamon to Antwan Thomas with 3:05 left in the half for a 14-7 lead.
But the Quistors answered with a second touchdown from Rhodes, this time from 14 yards away, to tie the game again at 14-14 with 1:21 left in the half and many thought that would be the halftime score.
The Wolves felt otherwise however and when Beamon hit Anthony Stephens with a short pass that turned into a 63-yard scoring play with 48 seconds remaining in the half, the teams left for the locker room with Cleveland Central holding a 21-14 advantage at the intermission.
The Wolves opened the second half with another scoring pass, this time of 19 yards for 27-14 lead with just over seven minutes left in the third quarter. Undaunted, Olive Branch responded about a minute and a half later when freshman quarterback Thomas Heffner punched in a two-yard touchdown run to get the Quistors within 27-21.
The final score of the game came with Perry running in for the second time from six-yards out to give Cleveland Central a 33-21 lead with 5:40 left in the contest.
It was at that point that returning rain, followed more importantly, by thunder and lightning in the area of the field forced officials to clear the stadium and put the game into a rain delay.
That delay would later become a called contest when it became clear that the lightning would not leave the area anytime soon. Under the lightning delay rules, a football game cannot continue until at least 30 minutes after a lightning strike has been detected in the immediate area of the field.
With the loss, Olive Branch’s record dropped to 0-1 with a visit to DeSoto County rival Horn Lake on the horizon next week. Cleveland Central, now 2-0 for the year, will host Amanda Elzy next Friday night.
Prep football
- Memphis Business Academy 34, Lewisburg 22
- (Note: Lightning delay forced the remainder of the game to be finished at approximately 11:30 p.m.)
- Horn Lake 34, Lafayette (Oxford) 17
- (Note: First win for new Horn Lake football coach Dustin Hectorne.)
- Tupelo 40, Southaven 13
- Senatobia 42, Hernando 7
- Southwind 34, Center Hill 17
- Northpoint Christian 39, Tupelo Christian Prep 0
- DeSoto Central 35, Lake Cormorant 14
- (Note: First coaching victory for new DeSoto Central coach Will Wolfe.)
- Cleveland Central 33, Olive Branch 21 (called by lightning with 5:40 left in the 4th quarter)
- Magnolia Heights 41, Lee Academy 31
JUCO volleyball
- Snead State 3, Northwest CC 1 (25-15, 23-25, 25-19, 25-21)
- Calhoun 3, Northwest CC 1 (25-19, 25-14, 15-25, 25-16)
