By Brad Crowe
Coach Chuck Robertson and the Taylorsville Tartars traveled to North Forrest High School on Friday to take on the Eagles in postseason competition. An early score for North Forrest seemingly woke up a sleeping giant in Taylorsville’s high octane offense, and the Tartars surged to an impressive 49-14 victory to punch their tickets to the 2A south state championship game.
On the Tartars’ first drive of the evening, the Eagles defense scooped up a fumble and returned it to the house for an early lead. But the visiting team wasted no time responding, as senior running back Tycarious Roberts returned the ensuing kickoff all the way back for a touchdown.
After recovering an Eagles fumble on the following kickoff, quarterback Ty Keyes connected with Letreal Jones for a passing touchdown to claim the lead, scoring twice in under 30 seconds of playing time.
Later in the first quarter, Tycarious reaches the end zone once again, this time on a 53-yard rush attempt. The Tartars led 20-6 entering the second quarter.
On the very first play of the second quarter, Keyes found Jones yet again for another Tartar’s touchdown pass. After an interception by the Taylorsville defense, Keyes threw a third touchdown pass, this time to junior Raven Arrington.
With their backs against the wall, the Eagles then put together an impressive drive powered by their run game to score their second touchdown of the night.
But late in the quarter, Tycarious Roberts found the end zone yet again to give Taylorsville a resounding 40-12 lead going into halftime.
Early in the third quarter, the Tartars removed any hope of a comeback with another Tycarious Roberts touchdown, his fourth of the night. Both defenses went on to record a safety afterwards, but the game was well in hand. Taylorsville came away victorious with a final score of 49-14.
“I just couldn’t be more proud of my team and my coaches,” exclaimed Coach Robertson after the contest. “They’re so resilient, and they never lied down. They responded well to tough situations, and our defense did a nice job of containing Daylyn Croom, who is one heck of an athlete.”
Robertson also had high praise for his senior running back, who contributed four touchdowns to lead the Tartars to victory. “These last two games have been the best Tycarious has played for us. He was hurt a lot last year, and now that he’s healthy he’s worked so hard to help lead this football team, and I’m happy for him.”
“It feels really good,” said Tycarious. “I’ve never been to South State. We just have to keep working hard next week.”
With the win, only one more game stands between the Tartars and a spot in the 2017 state championship game. To get there, they will have to out dual another tremendous local football team, the Collins Tigers, who reached south state by defeating Bay Springs 22-8.
