Water Valley claims Railroad trophy in rout of Coffeeville

Published 7:49 am Saturday, August 26, 2017

WATER VALLEY – The Water Valley Blue Devils took little time to start their home opener off right. Within the first few minutes, the Blue Devils were already up two scores against rival Coffeeville in what led to a 55-14 win in the annual Railroad Rivalry game at Bobby Devil Stadium on Friday night.

The Blue Devils (1-1) got the scoring started with an impressive 35 yard run by Kentavious Brock, while the second came after a long drive down field, with senior quarterback Ty Varner punching it in from one yard out to give Water Valley a 13-0 lead.

The first quarter scoring didn’t stop there. Water Valley would score one more time on a Jayvon Morgan 47-yard catch. Morgan broke three tackles and carried one defender into the endzone, putting the Blue Devils up 20-0 early in the game.

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The next possession for Coffeeville was ended after a deep pass was intercepted by Ceddrick White with four minutes left in the first quarter. During the next period, Water Valley would add 21 points to the lead with Coffeeville only scoring on a 49-yard, strip-fumble by the defensive end of the Pirates. That would be the last time Coffeeville scored in the half.

With three minutes left in the second quarter, the Coffeeville quarterback tossed up a jump ball off his back foot that Martavius Rockett intercepted and returned for 90 yards, looking to give the Blue Devils a massive cushion heading into halftime.

The defensive scoring continued for Water Valley when White recovered a fumble, his second takeaway of the night, and returned it 20 yards for another touchdown. With a 35 point lead, the Blue Devils were 24 minutes away from their first win of the season.

With the game already out of reach, Water Valley head coach Brad Embry managed to get some of his younger players playing time, giving them great exposure early in the season.

“We played a lot of kids,” Embry said. “We are going to have to evaluate who did what best at film, and then we’ll see who’s playing time goes up.”

With a running clock in the second half, it only took Water Valley three plays before Brock ran in his third touchdown of the night, this one went 41-yards. On the next Coffeeville possession, a long pass was intercepted by Bud Tolbert, allowing junior Blue Devil Tay Rucker to break free on a 67-yard touchdown run with a little over four minutes to go in the third.

Coffeeville (0-2) responded with a score of their own, a 4th down pass that left one Coffeeville Pirate wide open in the endzone. Unfortunately for the visitor, it was not enough to bring down the Blue Devils. After the 41-point routing of their crosstown rival, coach Brad Embry seemed very pleased with his team’s effort in the victory.

“It’s a lot easier to come back and get better after a win,” Embry said. “We scored plenty of points, but we need to make sure we are scoring points the right way.”

Water Valley had no problem scoring Friday night and look to continue the scoring this week as they remain  at home against the J.Z. George Jaguars at 7pm.