MABEN — Leflore County senior Dekari “Turbo” Johnson outdueled Class 2A Mr. Football winner Zy Ford to help the Tigers pull off a 14-13 upset victory at East Webster in Friday night’s Class 2A quarterfinals.
Johnson finished with a game-high 85 rushing yards while his running mate, junior Dezmond Ray, totaled 117 yards and a receiving touchdown that proved to be the difference on a cold November evening.
“I’m not going to take the credit — I’m going to give it to my teammates because when I didn’t step up, they stepped up,” Johnson said. “When I wasn’t making plays, they made plays. I made a couple plays, but all the picks, the defense stepped up big time. And Dezmond Ray stepped up big time.”
Leflore’s defense came up huge for the second week in a row as the Tigers (9-3) neutralized Ford, stopped the Wolverines (9-4) on a critical 2-point conversion attempt early in the fourth quarter and totaled three interceptions. Mel’traveone Kelly had two of Leflore’s picks, including the game-sealing interception on East Webster’s final drive of the game.
“I don’t have to put any bulletin board material up at this point because the kids read a lot of social media, and they know week in and week out they’re underdogs,” fifth-year head coach Eric House said. “So at some point, you get tired of people saying you’re not good and you can’t do this. So each week it’s personal. We’re trying to prove the doubters wrong.”
Leflore took away the Wolverines’ passing game early, picking off their first two pass attempts of the contest. The Tigers added momentum early in the second quarter when they scored on a short Ivory Lampkin touchdown run. But East Webster answered in the final minute of the first half with a 25-yard touchdown strike to give the Wolverines a 7-6 edge headed into the locker room at halftime.
In the third quarter, quarterback Dequarionne Jones returned from a rough hit near the sidelines to throw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Ray. Leflore fumbled on the ensuing 2-point conversion, but the Tigers recovered in the end zone to take the lead back, 14-7, entering the fourth quarter.
Lampkin paced the defense with 10 tackles in addition to his 40 rushing yards and a touchdown on offense. Javoris Sherrod and Damarius Leflore had seven tackles apiece, and Donellius Griggs finished with five tackles and an interception.
The Tigers advance to the North State 2A finals next week against a Charleston squad that cruised past Baldwyn, 28-10, on Friday.
“We’re going to give it our all,” Johnson said. “We got this far — we’re not going down.”
In the South 2A playoffs, Scott Central steamrolled Newton 70-25, and Pelahatchie beat Kemper 48-20. They also play next Friday.
The Class 2A state championship game is Dec. 4 at Southern Mississippi’s M.M. Roberts Stadium at 3 p.m.
Contact Riley Overend 662-581-7237 or roverend@gwcommonwealth.com. Follow @OverendOut on Twitter.
