Huntington blows out CENLA

By Jeff Edwards (Contact) | The Natchez Democrat

Published Monday, September 22, 2008

NATCHEZ — The Huntington Hounds keep improving as the weeks go by, which is something that coach Chad Harkins wants to see continue throughout the regular season.

The Hounds continued that improvement last Friday with a 51-8 blowout win over CENLA Christian.

“Overall, I thought the kids came out and took care of the task at hand,” Harkins said. “It was another district win and we need to keep progressing to our ultimate goal of the playoffs.”

Harkins said his team can still improve, but that is a good thing as they are only halfway through the season.

“If we were as good as we could be right now, it would be tough because we’d have nothing to maintain in the playoffs,” Harkins said. “We need to keep getting better every week so we can hit our stride in the playoffs and hopefully stay alive in there a little while.”

Huntington’s rushing attack keeps getting better because of the good work of the offensive line, Harkins said.

“Our offensive line keeps getting better as a unit,” Harkins said. “We were able to execute that being in the right play and doing things right on the offensive line.”

While Huntington keeps improving, the Adams County Christian Rebels are still looking for answers.

The Rebels turned the ball over eight times in a 47-6 loss to Silliman Friday night.

“The part that is disappointing is normally when we turn the ball over, we turn it over after good plays,” ACCS coach Paul Hayles said. “We’ve got to overcome those things and we will.”

Hayles said the team shouldn’t still be making these mistakes five weeks into the season.

“That’s something that should have been corrected by now,” Hayles said. “It’s a focus issue. It was a complete lack of focus and that’s something we’ve got to show maturity to overcome.”

ACCS’ schedule doesn’t get any easier as the season goes along. The Rebels play Riverfield in a district game Friday night followed by perennial power Parklane.

“We’re not going to run from any challenge,” Hayles said. “We’ve got good young talent and are working hard, We’ll continue to grow and develop.”

While the ACCS Rebels are still struggling, Trinity is having no such problems racking up wins.

The Saints rolled against Prairie View last Friday, turning a seven-point game in the third quarter into a 42-14 rout with 21 points in the final quarter-and-a-half.

Trinity coach David King has said all year his team should be very good by about the sixth week of the season, which is this week.

The opponent that will meet a “very good” 5-0 Trinity team is Class A power Briarfield. The two teams met in the MPSA Class A state championship game two years ago and Trinity pulled out a one-point victory.

The game wasn’t nearly as close last year, as Trinity won by the score of 58-7.

Following that game, the Saints will host Tallulah for homecoming and then travel to Silliman before two consecutive district games against River Oaks and Riverfield. They will then close the regular season by traveling to Centreville to take on the Tigers.

Another team that is coming off a big win is the Wilkinson County Christian Rams. The Rams defeated Franklin Academy 22-6 behind the outstanding play of Todd Gonda and in the process kept their season alive.

Gonda, usually a wide receiver, was forced into action at quarterback due to the season-ending knee injury to starting quarterback George Davis and was basically a one-man show for the Rams.

Gonda ran for a 62-yard touchdown, intercepted a pass and returned it 74 yards for a touchdown and kicked a 22-yard field goal in the win.

“Todd is one of our weapons at wide receiver and has got some good moves,” WCCA coach Sam Byrd said. “He was a little nervous about running the offense at quarterback because that’s a lot on your mind. Everybody is looking to you to make plays. He made some good read option plays and was able to take one of them to the house.”

The win was important for WCCA, as it kept their playoffs hopes alive. WCCA needs to win out in district play to keep their hopes for a wild card spot in the MPSA Class A playoffs going.

“It was a big win, but next week will be even tougher,” Byrd said. “We travel to Tallulah, which is a good young group of kids. They never quit and will play you for four quarters.”