Quitman High Panthers pull off big win over Magee Trojans

By Staff
Jamey LanierSpecial to The Star
September 29, 2001
QUITMAN – On a night with weather perfect enough to make you think that God just might be a football fan, the Quitman Panthers took a 20-14 homecoming win over the Magee Trojans. The game also opened division play for the Panthers.
Quitman coach Charles Faulkner saw his scrappy squad stop one of the states most potent offenses, as Magee entered the game averaging over 40 points per game.
Quitman got on the scoreboard first on a three-yard scoring run by Evan Pickens, capping a 10-play 71-yard drive. Jonathan Russell split the uprights to tack on the extra point and hand Quitman a 7-0 lead with 3:24 remaining in the first quarter.
Magee moved the ball between the 20-yard lines but Quitman held when it counted and kept the Trojans out of the endzone until midway through the second quarter, when quarterback Brian Hayes snuck in from one yard out, but Quitman held firm on the conversion try to deny Magee and hold onto a narrow 7-6 lead with 9:55 left in the first half.
Magee moved the ball down to the Panther 11-yardline just before the halftime break but Quitman stiffened and held the Trojans to negative five yards on four plays forcing a turnover on downs with less than 10 seconds till the half.
After swapping punts to open the second half, Magee took the lead on a Hayes to Kory Moore 23-yard screen pass on fourth-and-13. Hayes scampered in for the two-point conversion to give his team a 14-7 lead with 3:05 remaining in the third quarter.
Quitman got a break on it's next possession when Magee's Kendrick McLaurin muffed a punt return and Jeffrey Mays pounced on the ball setting Quitman up a t the Trojan 25-yardline. It took the Panters 13 plays to put the ball in the endzone on a Prentiss Davis 1-yard run.Russell drilled the PAT to knott the score at 14 with 8:00 left to play.
Magee followed that score with a long drive of it's own, but again the Panther defense rose to the occasion, stopping the Trojans cold at the Panther 21-yardline to force a turnover on downs with 2:55 remaining in the game.
Quitman moved the ball to their own 47-yard line when Faulkner took advantage of the Trojan pursuit and called a reverse to Mays who broke down the far sideline, cut back to the nearside and raced 53-yards for the winning touchdown with just 31 seconds left on the clock. Russell's PAT attempt was blocked to end the scoring at 20-14.
Pickens was the workhorse for the Panthers with 70 yards on 15 carries and a touchdown. Mays chipped in 68 yards on just three carries and a score.
The Panthers, who upped their record to 4-1 and 1-0 in division play, returns to action next week when they travel to West Jones for a division 5-4A battle.