By Brad Greer

High school football can be a 48-minute battle, but North Delta put Friday’s night game with Marvell, (Ark.) away early and quite often.

Led by a revamped offense and another dominating performance by the   defense, the Green Wave  eased past the Eagles 40-6 at Green Wave Field to improve to 4-2 on the season.

Bryan Nickle  had a career night with 243 all-purpose yards that included three rushing touchdowns  and a 46-yard scoring strike from  quarterback Derek Shawn. The junior finished the night with 90 yards on four carries   and seven receptions for 115 yards. If that was not enough, Nickle also intercepted a pass on defense.

“He (Nickle) is doing just about everything we can ask for, he is returning punts,  intercepting balls on defense, catching passes on offense  and also running the ball. If you get him out in a open space on a dry  field he is tough to tackle. We are just trying find as many ways as possible to get him the ball,” said North Delta head coach Dan Werner.

North Delta took the opening kickoff and   marched 64 yards on 11 plays  to take a 7-0 lead as Chris Rodgers plowed his way into the endzone at the 7:04 mark with Nickle adding the PAT.

The Green Wave put the game away by scoring on three of their four possessions in the second quarter to take a 27-6 halftime lead. The first scoring drive came at 7:16 when Nickle, who lined up under  center, raced around left end 10 yards for a touchdown.

After Marvell went three and out on the next drive, Nickle struck again on a 39-yard scamper   to make the score 19-0 after a botched point after attempt. But perhaps the highlight of the night came with less than a minute left in the half when the junior out-jumped two defenders to haul in a 46-yard touchdown pass. Shawn then connected with Chris Reeves for the two-point conversion.

“It was a fade route and Derek put it on the money and I just jumped up and got it and ran it in,” said Nickle of the pass reception.

Marvell (2-4) scored its only points of the game when Justin Tefteller scooped up a Shawn fumble and rambled 40 yards for a touchdown with 1:15 left before intermission. The North Delta defense, who has not given up a touchdown in the last 11 quarters dating back to a 12-7 win over Indianola three weeks ago, held the Eagles to five first downs and 83 yards of total offense. Backup quarterback Kasey Livingston scooped up a fumble recovery late in the fourth quarter to thwart an Eagle drive.

North Delta added to their lead on the first possession of the second half as Shawn snuck his way in from one-yard out to cap off a seven-play, 40-yard drive with Nickle adding the PAT. The series was set up by a John Cody Dalrymple interception in the Marvell 40.

Nickle put the finishing touches on the game with a 37-yard run on a end around  to cap off a seven-play 70-yard drive to make the score 40-6 with 10:43 remaining.

North Delta rolled up a season high 405 yards of total offense including 273 yards rushing. Shawn finished the night with 132 yards on eight-of-12 passing. Corbin Baker also caught one pass for 12 yards

 “We added a  little wrinkle into our offense this week,“ said Werner. “We put in a trap series  that has been run here before and had been very successful with it in the past so we sat down as a staff and decided to try it and it worked well. We also threw in a option with the fullback that resulted in some positive gains,“ said Werner.

Rodgers followed Nickle in rushing with 87 yards on 16 carries while Tres Brasell added 66 yards on nine totes. Fullback Michael Magee contributed with six carries for 32 yards while John Paul Keel added eight yards on three carries.Jeremiah  Watson had one carry for two yards.

North Delta will jump back into district play Friday by visiting West Memphis, (Ark.) The Black Knights lost a 35-0 verdict to Indianola Friday night.

North Delta will have an open date on October 16 and will return October 23 to host Greenville Christian in its homecoming game.