What started out to be a close game, turned ugly for the West Harrison Hurricanes as the game progressed.
Pearl River Central’s Blue Devils came out strong, and while the Hurricanes attempted to keep up, almost succeeding in the first quarter, by the second half they fell way behind.
“It’s been our M.O. all year,” Devils Head Coach Larry Doland said. “The first quarter we just don’t play very well. I think as the game went on we got a little better.”
By the second quarter, the Devils had a 22-6 lead with 10:35 left to play in the half.
The Devils were the first to score Friday night, when quarterback Wyatt Davis completed a pass to running back Louis Reece for an 80-yard touchdown. The successful two-point conversion run by Diante Lenoir gave the Devils an early 8-0 lead with 10:41 left in the first quarter.
The Hurricanes answered back, when Michael Sims crossed the end zone. However, they would miss their attempt at a two-point conversion, leaving the score 8-6.
The Devils scored four more times in the first half, when A.J. Banks rushed the ball to the end zone with 4:53 remaining in the first quarter, again when Reece crossed the end zone with 10:35 left in the second quarter, when Davis completed a pass to Lenoir with 8:25 left in the second quarter and finally when Michael Tatman ran the ball in with 2:41 left in the first half.
The Hurricanes would only score one more time the rest of the game, and that came with 8:25 left in the first quarter when quarterback Dayln Anderson kept the ball and ran it in for their biggest play of the night for more than 50 yards. By half time the score was 38-14 after a number of successful two point conversions by the Devils and one by the Hurricanes.
The second half of the game was all Devils. With 11:34 in the third quarter, Lenoir ran the ball in for a touchdown and with 7:48 left in the same quarter Tatman ran the ball in for another score. At that point the score was 52-14, where it stayed for the remainder.
The Devils (4-4, 2-2 in district) travel to Pascagoula next week.