The Tharptown Wildcats blanked the Cherokee Indians 64-0 for a big homecoming win Friday night. Dawson Higgins scored four touchdowns and had 134 yards rushing on the night for the Wildcats.

“It was a big win for our team and our school,” said Tharptown Coach Kevin Lacey.  “It is always special to get a win on homecoming. Our guys worked hard all week through difficult conditions with all the rain early in the week. They deserved to get this win and have fun on homecoming.”

Aiden Villalobos got the scoring started for Tharptown almost immediately, scoring on the first play from scrimmage and going 59 yards for the touchdown. Ismael Perez connected on the first of his six extra points on the night to give the Wildcats a 7-0 lead 24 seconds into the game.

With 4:35 to go in the first quarter, Higgins scored his first touchdown from one yard out to give Tharptown a 13-0 lead.

Two minutes later, capitalizing on a Cherokee fumble, Higgins scored again. This time he ran the ball 43 yards to paydirt.

Hunter Reynolds ran the ball on the two-point conversion to give Tharptown a 21-0 lead with 2:04 to go in the first quarter.

Tharptown added one more score in the first half on a 21-yard pass from Reynolds to Nikolas Chaney to give the Wildcats a 28-0 lead.

Higgins scored two more touchdowns in the third quarter on big runs of 43 yards and 47 yards to extend Tharptown’s lead to 42-0.

Tharptown added three more touchdowns in the fourth quarter on a nine-yard run by X’avier Hubbard and a 34-yard run by Reynolds. Joel Perez also returned a blocked field goal for a touchdown.

Gracie Montgomery was crowned Tharptown’s Class of 2021 Homecoming Queen at halftime.

The Wildcats will have an off week this week and host Sheffield next week.