When Brieton Sykes woke up Friday morning he had a feeling that a big performance was coming later that night. Sykes couldn’t have scripted Calhoun City’s 28-7 victory against Water Valley any better for himself or the Wildcats. He had a hand in all four Calhoun City (3-0) touchdowns, and even threw his first touchdown pass of the season on a halfback reverse.
“I had a feeling,” Sykes said. “I felt like I had a lot on my shoulders. I had to tote my team.”
Kemon Hall
Sykes led Calhoun City with 73 yards rushing on seven carries (10.42 average) and had three rushing touchdowns. Shortly before halftime he also became the second Wildcats running back to throw a touchdown in as many weeks, after Jaalen Thomas accomplished the feat against Houston.
Sykes took a reverse pitch from quarterback Chakel Gates and threw a perfect 16-yard pass to Kemon Hall to give Calhoun City a 14-0 lead with 27 seconds left in the half.
“When I hear that play called, I just know I am going to throw it right and I hope the wide receiver catches it every time,” Sykes said.
The touchdown before the half was an important finish to a momentum shift that started with Gates’ interception of Water Valley (1-2) quarterback Jonathan Kent on the previous possession. With less than four minutes remaining in the half, Calhoun City led 7-0 and Water Valley had driven the ball to the Wildcats’ 15-yard-line.
“We watched film and we saw that they run the out with the tight end and a slant on the backside,” Gates said. “I saw the tight end going out and saw the receiver out of the corner of my eye, and I just got under the slant and caught it.”
The interception at the six-yard line was returned 71 yards, and Calhoun City scored five plays later. Gates, who is a senior and the team’s starting quarterback, was playing free safety for the first time since he was a freshman, in addition to returning kicks and punts. He said he found out he would be starting on defense just minutes before kickoff.
“Right before the game started, (coach) he told me I had to get out there and play,” Gates said, “and I told him, ‘alright, I’ll get it done for you.’”
Head coach Perry Liles and the rest of his Calhoun City staff anticipated a potent Water Valley offense, and the Wildcats’ defense responded with the help of players like Gates in the defensive secondary.
“(Gates) is so important to our offense that we haven’t played him a lot on defense. He’s a defensive back who needs to be on the field,” Liles said. “We played a team that can really throw it, and they didn’t have a lot of completions.”
Water Valley outgained Calhoun City 134-119 in the first half, but the Wildcats defense came up with two timely stops inside its own 30-yard line. In addition to Gates’ interception, Calhoun City stopped Water Valley on a fourth-and-8 on the Wildcats’ 26-yard line.
“Offensively, we didn’t move it well in the second quarter but we kept stopping them. I’m very proud of our defense,” Liles said. “Every series in the first quarter (Water Valley) was three-and-out. I thought we had a great game plan and our players executed it well.”
Hall had two interceptions in the second half, and was a big reason why Kent and the Water Valley offense struggled so much. Kent finished 7-of-24 passing for 75 yards and three interceptions.
“At first (the wide receivers) were getting deep on me, and then I started catching on to what they were doing and started making picks,” Hall said. “That’s just how this defense is. When it’s time to stop somebody, that’s what we do.”
Sykes began the scoring for Calhoun City with a 19-yard rushing touchdown with 6:58 remaining in the first quarter. He also added touchdown runs of 12 and 29 yards on each of Calhoun City’s first two possessions to begin the second half.
“Brieton is a load,” Liles said. “When he gets his motor running and he hits the hole, and when you weigh 200-something pounds and can run like that, it’s hard to tackle him.”
As a team, Calhoun City rushed for 227 yards. Thomas finished with 70 yards rushing on 11 carries, including 67 yards in the second half.
“I told my teammates at halftime that we had to come on with it,” Thomas said. “We had to get off the ball and get low and they responded and we started moving the ball like we needed to.”
Jessie Nabors had 42 yards rushing on 10 attempts, and Gates added 31 yards rushing to go along with 6-of-12 passing for 78 yards.
Calhoun City plays at Pontotoc on Friday at 7:00 p.m.
