by Hunter Dawkins, Publisher/Owner – thegazebogazette@gmail.com or hdawkins@supertalk.fm
Returning to winning form for the 2023 season, the West Harrison Hurricanes football team beat non-conference opponent, the Greene County Wildcats with a 41-40 victory. Coming off their first winning season in program history (6-4 in 2022), the Hurricanes fell behind early from the passing friendly-Wildcat offense, but the West Harrison Wing-T offense and a few defensive stops brought the first win of 2023.
Both teams were not division opponents nor classification opponents as the Hurricanes were 6A and Greene County 5A under the new Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) rules.
“We spoke about handling adversity in our pregame meal tonight,” said West Harrison High School Head Football Coach Quincy Patrick in his sixth year with the team. “Our guys were hit a lot of self-imposed adversity tonight, but it was exciting to see them overcome it.”
Despite Greene County accounting for 487 yards total offense, the ‘Canes used their triple-back running attack from Jordan Stapleton, Trey Harris, and Jeremy Jones who combined for 466 yards. West Harrison didn’t limit themselves to only rushing as Quarterback Brady Martin was 2-3 passing for 44 yards and a lengthy touchdown to Jahmad McGowan. Jones caught the other pass from Martin for 9 yards.
Stapleton brought back the memory of 2019 for the ‘Canes as former running back Llanes Dickerson would easily plow through defenders for over 200 yards a game. The sophomore running back used his speed and agility to race for 308 yards on 15 carries and 3 rushing touchdowns. Harris countered with the triple-back system for 102 yards on 16 carries plus a score and Jones finished the haul, carrying 17 times for 56 yards and a touchdown.
The Greene County Wildcat offense was led by Quarterback Coby King, who threw 28-45 passing for 390 yards, 6 touchdowns, and interceptions and ran 6 attempts for 28 yards. The ‘Canes clutch pick-off came from Defensive Back Ashton Skidmore.
West Harrison (1-0) plays their second non-division opponent Friday, September 1, 2023 against the Sumrall Bobcats (1-0), who defeated South Jones 37-20 last week. The ‘Canes will host the game in Gulfport starting at 7pm.
