Woodrow Lowe Jr. doesn’t plan on building the football program at North Side on moral victories, but he was encouraged by something that he saw in the locker room after the Indians’ 21-13 loss to Dyersburg.
“They were in there feeling bad,” Lowe said. “Like they felt like they had a chance and let it slip away.
“When you see that in the team, you know it meant something to them and they felt they had a shot against a very good team.”
The Indians did have a shot. After going scoreless in the first half, North Side (2-4) scored first.
Both of the home team’s touchdowns were scored by Javontae Smith. The second touchdown cut the Trojan lead to one after the missed PAT about midway through the second quarter.
Dyersburg broke free for a long touchdown run with about five minutes remaining, and that was the final scoring of the game as North Side tried to move the ball down the field and turned it over on downs about midfield.
Dyersburg then ran the clock out to record the win and stay undefeated.
“We played a good game where the guys didn’t make a lot of mistakes or make any turnovers,” Lowe said. “And I hope that this is a moment they can look back on see a lot of them figured out tonight that we can play with some of the best teams on our schedule … some of the best teams in the state.
“Dyersburg is one of those teams, and we stayed with them all night.”
University School of Jackson 40, St. George’s 7
The Bruins (4-2, 1-0 Division II-AA West) picked the right time to get back to winning as they opened region play with the big win.
Noah Spencer ran for three touchdowns. Corben Howard and Mills Terry connected for two more scores, and Justin Parker returned an interception 70 yards for the Bruins’ first score of the night.
USJ already had 21 points when the Gryphons scored their points.
Lexington 35, South Side 14
The Tigers pushed the Hawks (2-4, 0-2 Region 6-4A) around all night and had a 14-0 lead at halftime.
South Side had a different look on offense with Chuck Stokes at quarterback. He connected with Jamarion Burns for a long touchdown pass to cut into the lead early in the third quarter.
But Lexington came back with another touchdown in the third and one more early in the fourth for a 28-7 lead.
Rakarious Lacy ran it in to cut into the lead again, but it wasn’t enough as Lexington scored one more time to clinch the win.
Scotts Hill 41, Liberty 14
The Crusaders (0-6, 0-3 Region 6-3A) played the game close before the Lions pulled away in the second half to the 27-point win.
Riverside 36, Trinity Christian 34
The Lions (3-2) led for nearly the entire game except the very end when the Panthers took their first lead.
They even had a 14-point lead in the second half before Riverside’s offense took over and scored twice with a pair of 2-point conversions.
Adamsville 28, Jackson Central-Merry 6
The Cougars (1-4, 0-3) avoided the shutout by scoring the final touchdown of the night.
They will be at South Side next week for homecoming against North Side.
Next week’s games
North Side at JCM (at South Side)
FACS at Jackson Christian
South Side at Bolivar
TCA at Harding Academy
USJ at Northpoint Christian
Open week: Liberty