Even when victory was out of reach, the players on the Washington School football team kept fighting and clawing until the final whistle in their 27-0 opening night home defeat to Central Hinds Academy.
The Generals had their best chance to score in the games final seconds when freshman reserve quarterback Prentiss Doolittle dropped a 19-yard pass to fellow freshman Ty Signa. Signa powered his way to the 1-yard line before being tackled with just six seconds left.
Washington School coach Greg Wallace said he was pleased with the effort of his younger players, but his team as a whole needs to get a whole lot better.
“Our youth and inexperience showed tonight,” Wallace said. “We are going to have to find some better discipline, and we might find it on the levee, but we are going to find it. Monday is not going to be fun.”
“We have 22 guys on our team, plus ninth graders,” the General coach said. “We had three or four ninth graders step up and take positions tonight, and that is what it is.
It wasn’t until the game’s final quarter that the game seemed out of reach. The General (0-1) defense forced a number of Central Hinds turnovers to keep Washington within striking distance for much of the night.
An interception by sophomore Nathan Thompson with a minute left until halftime allowed the Generals to go into the break down just 13-0.
In the third quarter, Washington forced three straight Central Hinds fumbles. Charley Dunn, Brett Chustz and Banks Dinkens recovered these fumbles.
Washington quarterback Fred Nailer made a number of connections with receiver Noah Ashley the entire game, especially in the third quarter when they hooked up for a 15-yard pass inside the Central Hinds 30 yard line. This drive, however, was ended after a Washington bad snap turned the ball right over.
“Noah played his guts out,” Wallace said. “He is a great leader. At tkimes, our offensive line made some plays and
“I saw a lot of our young guys playing hard on defense and at the end of the game we had a couple freshmen come in and do some good things. Our older guys seemed to have forgotten what we taught them. I am not sure if it is. Maybe we have taught them too many advanced plays.”
Central Hinds quarterback Brady Clark rushed in three touchdowns for his team. He rushed in his team’s first touchdown from 7 yards out with four minutes left in the first quarter. Clark would run in another touchdown, from 15-yards out, to put his team up 13-0 with 2:49 until halftime.
Brady Price scored Central Hinds’ third touchdown on a 15-yard TD with 8:42 left in the game.
Clark’s final touchdown was from four yards out with 5:28 left in the game.
