Batesville Peewees 9-10s advance to second round

By Brad Greer
One Batesville pee wee football team saw its season come to an end while another advanced to the next playoff round Saturday at Robert H. Dunlap Stadium.
Batesville (9-10’s)-6 Oxford-0
Cory Langley’s fumble recovery in the end zone with 59 seconds left in the third quarter proved to be the winning margin as the Tigers.
Neither team could mount a threat in the first half as both defenses stood steadfast. Kellen Norwood came up with the first key play of the day by intercepting an Oxford pass on the Tiger four yard-line midway through the second quarter.
The Tigers looked to have broken the tie with six seconds remaining in the half but a clipping penalty negated a scoring run.
Oxford’s last gasp came started at the Tiger 49 with 1:57 left to play in the game but could not convert as Marcus Christon, Jr. picked off a pass to seal the victory.
Christon led the Batesville defense with four tackles. Gabe Cole followed with three tackles including a quarterback sack. Danny Connor, Norwood, Shondarrius Morgan and Othaevius Toliver all registered two tackles. Antraviyun Clark also came up with an interception.
Tupelo (7&8’s)-24 Batesville-13
Scoring runs 81,70,69 and 54 yards spelled doom for the younger Tigers as the Golden wave came away with the victory.
Tupelo took advantage of a Batesville fumble on the Wave 19 and scored on a 81-yard run to take a 6-0 lead after one quarter of play.
Batesville took a brief 7-6 advantage on Tyler Christon’s one yard plunge on fourth down. The lead was short lived as Tupelo busted a 70-yard scoring run on the following play from scrimmage.
The Golden Wave tacked on another long touchdown run to increase their lead to 18-7 at halftime.
After a scoreless third quarter, Batesville closed the margin to 18-13 on a one-yard run by Jarel Turner. Tupelo finished any Tiger comeback hopes with a 54 yard scoring run with 2:20 left in the game.