By Brad Crowe
The Taylorsville Tartars hosted the Perry Central Bulldogs on Friday night in a highly anticipated playoff game. With a loss to the Bulldogs being the only blemish on the Tartars’ overall record, there was no lack of motivation for Coach Robertson and his players.
Ty Keyes, Taylorsville’s freshman phenom quarterback who has taken the MSHAA by storm this fall, got the ball rolling early for the Tartar’s offense with three scores on their first three drives. The first score was a touchdown pass to Malik Strickland, the second was a pass to Perry Keyes, and a third was a scramble by Ty himself. The Tartars failed to convert any of their PAT attempts, resulting in an early 18-0 lead.
But the Bulldogs had no plans to go out quietly. The visitors from Perry Central responded with a bruising touchdown run, followed by a blocked punt returned for a score, reducing the deficit to a manageable 18-13 going into halftime.
Once again in the third quarter, the Tartar’s offense came out swinging. Cousins Ty and Perry Keyes connected for a second touchdown pass and reception, extending their advantage to 24-13.
But the resilient Bulldogs battled back again with a pick-six early in the fourth quarter. They attempted a two-point conversion to draw within a field goal, but they came up just short.
The offense traded turnovers on the ensuing two drives, eating a lot of the remaining play time. However, the Bulldogs regained possession with under two minutes remaining, having one less opportunity to come away with a win.
Junior quarterback Kevin Lindsey used both his passing and scrambling abilities to move the offense into the red zone. With less than half a minute left, the Bulldogs found themselves facing a 4th and goal from the six-yard line with no timeouts. Lindsey lobbed the ball into the end zone to give his receiver a chance to make a play, and a host of Tartar’s defenders deflected the pass, bringing the game to an end. Taylorsville celebrated a hard-earned 24-19 victory.
After the game, Coach Chuck Robertson commended his players for responding well to adversity.
“The first time we played [Perry Central], they hit us pretty hard, and we didn’t know how to respond. But since then we’ve played some tough teams like Bay Springs and Heidelberg, so these guys have been in the trenches, they’ve learned how to battle, and tonight they did what they had to do.”
Robertson also acknowledged how well his defense adjusted at halftime and made stop after stop to seal the win in the fourth.
“I’m so proud of my defensive coordinator. The adjustments at halftime were amazing. These guys came up with the big interception late in the fourth, along with two stops on fourth down. Our defense has been great all year, and tonight they just got an opportunity to showcase it.”
With the win, the Tartars advance to the second round of playoffs. Next week they will travel to North Forest to play for a spot in the 2A South State Championship.
