Dyer County tops Lexington, punches playoff ticket

 



Jason Peevyhouse

Editor, JP Productions Sports

Coming into Thursday night’s regular-season finale with Lexington, Dyer County’s football team could finish as high as second place with a win but also find themselves out of the playoffs if they lost.

Despite struggles at times on offense, the former became the result for the Choctaws as the orange and white secured the No. 2 seed in the TSSAA Class 4A Playoffs with a 17-9 win over the Tigers in Newbern.

“Our guys fight,” Dyer County Head Coach Justin Dubruiel said. “Our assistant coaches help us get in good spots. Our guys played hard.”


After recovering an onside kick to open the game, Lexington put together a very long drive to open the contest. In fact, it took 14 plays for the Tigers to move down into the red zone in Choctaw territory. However, while allowing four first downs including two on fourth down, Dyer County’s defense only bent but did not break, holding the Tigers at the DC 17-yard line before forcing a 35-yard field goal from Lexington’s Blayne Carrington to put the visitors up 3-0 with 2:40 left in the opening quarter.

“I am so proud of those guys,” Dubruiel said of the Choctaw defense. “They bend but they don’t break.

“It was great to see them respond.”

The Choctaw offense looked to respond as Dyer County was able to string together a drive of its own. With runs by Ke’Anthony Barbee and Brice Fulton to go along with a pair of passes from Landon Daniels to Devin Hayward, the Choctaws took the ball from their own 25 all the way to the Lexington 27 in the final two minutes of the opening quarter. Things stalled for a moment following an 11-yard pass to Grant West to get the Choctaws into the red zone. A fumble then an interception ended the Dyer County drive at the Lexington 17-yard line.


Dyer County’s defense forced a three-and-out to get the ball back for the Choctaw offense.

It didn’t take long for the orange and white to respond after getting the ball back at the Tiger 34-yard line. A five-yard run from Daniels was followed by a pair of incomplete passes, including one ruled intentional grounding by the officials. But, on fourth down, Anthony broke free for a 34-yard touchdown run to put Dyer County on the board. Jotham Powell added the extra point to put Dyer County on top 7-3 with 7:50 left in the first half.

Lexington answered with another long drive. The 11-play drive took over four minutes off the clock and took the Tigers to the Choctaw 7-yard line. However, the one thing the drive didn’t do was put points on the board as the Dyer County defense again stopped the Tigers.

With just over three minutes left on the clock, Dyer County went into its two-minute offense. And was effective at doing so. The Choctaws got in 14 plays in just under three minutes and drove the ball 93 yards before a Barbee touchdown extended the Dyer County lead. Powell’s extra point gave the Choctaws a 14-3 halftime lead.

Lexington got a big play on defense early in the third quarter in the form of an interception and the offense responded for the Tigers. It took only four plays for the Tigers to score as Lexington got a four-yard touchdown from Amarion Arnold to cut into the Choctaw lead. The extra point failed as the Tigers trailed 14-9 with 7:45 left in the third frame.


The Choctaws felt the pressure and the offense responded – with a little help from special teams. Barbee carried the load on the drive for the Choctaws, handling the ball five times and going 57 yards before a Powell field goal from 20 yards out put Dyer County on top 17-9 with 5:33 left in the third quarter.

From there it was a back-and-forth battle of punts until late in the fourth quarter as a Lexington drive fizzled out near midfield. Dyer County was able to kneel on the ball and secure the win and their playoff spot for next week.

“We kind of stalled, offensively, in the second half,” the Choctaw head coach said. “But, the defense found a way to get us through.”

With the No. 2 seed in Region 7-4A, Dyer County will host a first round playoff game next Friday in Newbern. The opponent is expected to be Lakeland Prep, who lost 38-32 to Humboldt on Thursday night.

“We’re going to enjoy this for half a day,” Dubruiel said. “Then, I believe we’ll play Lakeland Prep. So we’ll go and see what they will have to offer us.”

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