Josh Troy
Special to the Delta Democrat Times
CLARKSDALE—Greenville High School has faced Clarksdale in football for 11 consecutive seasons and lost every single time.
The Wildcats (2-0) won Friday night’s contest at Crumpton Field in Clarksdale 49-30, but first-year Hornets coach Quintarus McCray saw promising things from his team he could build on.
“It’s just small things,” said McCray after the loss. “Being the first year, you’ve got to learn how to win. You do the little things to try to learn how to win. We’re getting closer and closer. It’s just the small things we’ve to fix.”
Early Hornets (1-1) miscues caused the Wildcats to jump out to a 14-0 lead with 6:25 remaining in the first quarter.
A 58-yard carry led to a 10-yard touchdown run for Clarksdale less than two minutes into the game.
A high snap on the Hornets’ first offensive possession led to a punt where Clarksdale started at the Greenville 20-yard-line. A touchdown followed giving Clarksdale a 14-0 lead.
Greenville was never able to even the score, but there were some bright spots for the Hornets.
With Greenville trailing by two touchdowns, senior Errick Simmons ran a kickoff back to the Clarksdale 40-yard-line. A penalty moved the ball to the Wildcats 25, but Greenville lost the ball on downs at the Clarksdale 3 with 4:06 to play in the first quarter.
The Wildcats followed going three and out before being forced to punt.
Greenville once again had possession in Clarksdale territory – this time at the Wildcats 38.
Senior quarterback Ty'mitchell Mccollough capitalized with a 6-yard touchdown run with 14 seconds to play in the first quarter to cut Clarksdale’s lead to 14-6.
Clarksdale held the ball until the 4:16 mark of the first half when it scored another touchdown to take a 21-6 lead.
However, Mccollough threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Simmons with 0:07 remaining in the first half on a fourth down play and senior running back Aaron Coats completed the 2-point conversion to cut Clarksdale’s halftime lead to 21-14.
Mccollough, on a fourth down and six, ran the ball five yards and slid at the Clarksdale 41 a yard shy of the first down.
That gave Clarksdale possession at its own 41 and the Wildcats capitalized with another touchdown.
A Mccollough 8-yard punt gave Clarksdale the ball at the Greenville 40 with 4:13 to play in the third quarter.
The Wildcats capitalized with another touchdown with 1:45 remaining in the third quarter to take a 35-14 lead.
“We’ve got to keep going,” McCray said. “Defense played a good game and we’ve just got to keep linemen on assignment. We missed a couple cues on offense, but we’ll be back.”
A bright spot on special teams came with 1:30 to play in the third quarter as Simmons ran an 83-yard kickoff return touchdown for the Hornets. That cut Clarksdale’s lead to 35-22 as Mccollough ran in the 2-point conversion.
Greenville capitalized on a Clarksdale pass interference play on a third down during the fourth quarter. That led to Mccollough throwing a 30-yard pass to senior wide receiver Rufino Griffin with 5:18 remaining in the game. Mccollough ran in the 2-point conversion to cut Clarksdale’s lead to 42-30, but Greenville could not come any closer.
Greenville’s home opener is at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 6 against Ruleville Central.
When asked where his team goes from here, McCray said, “Nowhere, but up.”
“We’ve got to keep fighting,” McCray said. “We’ve got Ruleville coming home our first week. Our first home game, so we’ve just got to keep fighting.”
