Photo: Action from Friday’s DeSoto Central victory at Hernando. The Jaguars shut out the Tigers 34-0. (Mary Scott for desotocountynews.com)
Oct 25, 2024- The Olive Branch Conquistadors football team came back in a big way Friday night, posting a 35-28 victory over visiting Saltillo at Pool Field. The win comes one week after a 42-0 shutloss loss to Region 1-6A-leading Grenada, so the win and the number of points the Quistors scored had to make the team and coach Jason Russell smile.
Olive Branch freshman quarterback Thomas Heffner scored a pair of touchdowns in the victory. The Conquistadors held a 14-8 lead after one quarter, on scoring plays from Kylan Rhodes and Heffner to recover from an opening touchdown from Saltillo’s Eli Shannon on a 23-yard end around run.
The Quistors added to the lead and took a 35-14 advantage into the locker room at halftime, as Heffner scored again, plus touchdowns from Jay Wells on a pass reception and a run from Brandon Perry of 33 yards. Saltillo scored on a nine-yard run from quarterback CJ Beasley.
Eli Shannon scored twice more in the second half to get the Tigers within a touchdown, but the Olive Branch offense kept the football away from Saltillo to prevent giving them a chance to tie the contest.
Heffner had to play a portion of the fourth quarter on the field hobbling after being injured and taken out for treatment. He had to continue since the other Olive Branch signal-caller Dominic Pupo was not in action after suffering a concussion in a loss last week at Grenada.
With the win, the Conquistadors improved to 2-5 overall, 1-2 in Region 1-6A play. Saltillo drops to 2-7 overall and is also 1-2 in regional action.
It's official 🏆@Northwest_WSOC is your 2024 MACCC Champions after tonight's win against Co-Lin! The Lady Rangers previously won a share of the conference title last season, marking the program's second consecutive MACCC title!#ALLNpic.twitter.com/IVuALiPXkf
