DALEVILLE SUN-COURIER Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Page 5
SPORTS
DALEVILLE HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL
Warhawks’ season comes to an end in high-scoring affair
By Andy Simmons
[email protected]
It was supposed to be
the same screen pass Coley
Locke had hit Alex McNeal
twice with for a pair of touchdowns earlier in the game.
The Bayside Academy
defense wasn’t fooled the
third time, as Locke threw an
interception in what turned
out to be the Warhawks’ final
offensive play in a high-scoring 49-41 affair that saw the
Admirals move on and the
Daleville Warhawks eliminated from the Class 3A state
playoffs.
The Warhawks were
driving down the field looking for the tying score with
less than two minutes left,
relying on Locke’s arm on
seven of the eight play calls
that final drive.
“We made one too many
mistakes, and that’s what it
came down to. That’s the way
it goes sometimes. These
guys, though, they fought
their butts off until the very
end,” said Daleville coach
Josh Parrish, who finishes his
second season with a 10-2
overall record.
Locke had his biggest
game offensively as a passer,
completing 14 of his 21 passes for 228 yards and three
scores. The ability to pass
was something the Warhawk
offense needed in order to
keep up with the fast-paced
Admiral attack, which ran a
wing-T offense that almost
mirrored Daleville’s.
“Coley was big for us.
I knew all year long that we
could throw it if we had to,”
Warhawk Stats
First downs
Rushes/Yards
Passing Yards
Comp-Att-Int
Total Ofense
Fumbles lost
Penalties/Yards
Punts/Avg.
DHS
14
44/314
221
14-21-1
535
3
1/5
2/30.5
Parrish said.
“They forced us to throw
it a little bit. We couldn’t
play our slow-down type of
offense because we couldn’t
stop them so we had to
change some things that we
were doing.”
The Admirals were the
first to put points on the
board. Three big plays led to
a 2-yard run up the middle
by Will Cox. The score was
part of an eight-play, 75-yard
drive. Cox would prove to be
the biggest thorn in the Daleville defense’s side, finishing
the game with 136 rushing
yards and five touchdowns,
which all came inside the
5-yard line.
McNeal scored on a
25-yard toss play to the right,
diving into the end zone to
cap off his electric burst of
speed that separated him
from the pack on the sideline.
It took Daleville only
three plays to take the lead
after a three-and-out by the
Admirals. Coley Locke kept
the ball on the read option
BHS
19
44/276
140
9-15-1
416
1
2/25
3/43.6
and found the seam at the
line of scrimmage, exploiting
it for a 66-yard run to make
it 14-7.
Bayside fumbled on the
first play of the next drive,
and the fumble was recovered by Riley Remple.
But just as the Admirals
giveth, they also taketh away.
A mishandled toss led to
a Warhawk turnover in which
Bayside recovered the ball.
They weren’t able to make
anything of it, and were
forced to punt.
Cox scored again on a
2-yard run up the middle,
which was once again set up
by two plays of 10 yards or
more.
McNeal put the Warhawks back in the driver’s
seat. He hit a 60-yard run
from a toss to the right, cutting back across the field for
the 21-14 lead.
Cox scored for the third
time of the first half on a
5-yard run.
Daleville would surrender its lead on another mis-
DALEVILLE HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
Lady Hawks take bronze in Ashford Tournament
By Andy Simmons
[email protected]
The Daleville Lady Hawks added some
early-season hardware to their trophy cabinet,
as they came home with third-place honors in
the Ashford Tournament that took place Nov.
14. The Lady Hawks beat Dale County 47-37
in the third-place game to secure the bronze
trophy.
“We played a lot better,” said Daleville
coach Zach Kelley.
“We had some easy buckets in transition
thanks to some steals.”
Daleville had a double-digit lead at the
half, but the Lady Warriors were able to tie
the game 30-30 in the third quarter. Three late
steals led to easy layups helping the Lady Hawks
secure the win.
“We’re learning, but we’re getting better.
We just need practice so we can gel more,” Kelley said.
Kiara Blanks had 17 points for Daleville to
lead the way. Eternity Hayes had 11.
The Lady Hawks ended up in the thirdplace game due to suffering a 35-28 loss to
Ashford earlier that day.
“We came out sluggish, which put us
behind the eight ball,” Kelley said.
“We didn’t move a lot on offense and just
did a lot of watching on defense.”
LaJasha Fils-Aime’, Hayes and Blanks all
contributed eight points for the Lady Hawks.
In the first round of the tournament, it was
an all-around effort from the Lady Hawks, as
all eight players who saw action scored at least
once in a 37-31 victory over Houston Academy
Nov. 11.
“We had lots of people scoring tonight,
which is a good thing,” Kelley said after the win.
“There were some first-game jitters that
got the best of us in the first quarter, but we got
some steals and layups in transition. It was a
good team win.”
Blanks led the way for the Lady Hawks with
10 points and six steals. “She could have more, but she had to sit on
the bench because of foul trouble,” Kelley said.
Cidney Scott added nine points, four
rebounds and four steals.
The Lady Hawks will play again Nov. 23, in
the Straughn Basketball Invitational.
timed toss play that led to
a fumble, only this time the
fumble was picked up and
returned 33 yards for a score.
The Warhawks would
leave the exclamation mark
on an action-packed first
half. Locke hit Jaylyn Hinton
on a 16-yard jump ball pass
and McNeal scampered 17
yards before a 55-yard screen
pass from Locke to McNeal tied the ball game up at
28-28.
Bayside opened up the
second half with a bang,
recovering an onside kick.
Two plays later, the Warhawks would have the ball
back thanks to a spectacular
interception caught by Jerry
White as he was lying on
the ground and the ball was
tipped in his direction.
Locke put the Warhawks
ahead with a perfectlythrown ball to Hinton running a slant route that went
for 24 yards and gave Daleville the 35-28 lead going
into the fourth quarter.
Another Cox touchdown
run from 5 yards out tied the
game, but only briefly.
A controversial fumble
was called in favor of the
Admirals as it was believed
that Kingston Lister was
down before the ball popped
loose.
Two big plays that went
for 48 combined yards later,
Cox scored his fifth touchdown of the night for the
Photo by Laura Fezie
Austin Valdez (24) runs down a Bayside ball carrier.
42-35 lead.
A pass interference call
on the Admirals put the Warhawks at midfield on their
next possession. Locke set up
McNeal on the exact same
screen play that got him his
first passing touchdown, only
this time it went for 35 yards.
The extra point was missed.
Bayside was pinned
back on its own 2-yard line
after excellent kick coverage
by the Warhawks, but the
field position mattered not.
Seth Shirley ran for 31 yards
to give the Admirals some
breathing room before Cox
hit a 57-yard run to put them
in scoring territory.
Andy Citrin scored a
3-yard touchdown run in
what would ultimately be the
game-winner.
“I’m super proud of
these guys,” Parrish said.
“We’ve got next year so
that’s the message I’m telling
them going into the locker
room.”