By By Josh Taylor\The Meridian Star
Sept. 22, 2001
The West Lauderdale Knights claimed a 31-0 region victory visiting Heidelberg High School Friday night
The Knights stand at 3-1 and 1-0 in their division.
The game started with the 0-3 Heidelberg Oilers fumbling on the second play. It was recovered by West nose guard Jared Parten.
The Knights took the ball down to the seven yard line ending in a 23-yard field goal by kicker Will Moseley.
Moseley sent kickoffs out of the endzone all night long.
After unsuccessful possessions by both teams Knight linebacker Carlessio Blanks intercepted a Michael Johnson pass to put the Knights in scoring position.
West's first play brought a 24-yard touchdown pass from quarterback C. J. Fountain to receiver Van Wilson with 2:14 left in the first quarter.
After the PAT, the score stood at 10-0. This was a sign of things to come.
The second quarter ended with a long drive by the Knights ending in a one yard touchdown run by Blanks. The drive included a 40-yard pass from Fountain to Tommy Hodges and a 48-yard run by Nick Baughman.
The half ended with a Johnson interception by Moseley returned for 50 yards.
The clock ran out leaving the Knights up 17-0 at the half.
The third quarter started with another Johnson interception by Justin Campbell setting West up for a 2- yard touchdown pass from Fountain to Wilson followed by a successful PAT.
Mistakes added up as the Oilers next possession ended in a Johnson fumble recovered by ninth-grader Caleb Dulaney setting up a six-yard touchdown run by Blanks.
The extra point was good leaving the score at 31-0 with 7:39 to go in the third quarter.
The rest of the game was scoreless as the Oilers made mistake followed by mistake.
Possibly the hardest hit of the season so far was seen when West defensive back Van Wilson tagged Oiler quarterback Johnson so hard his helmet went flying.
Knight defensive end Todd Pruitt also got a fumble recovery along with defensive back Jayson Kimbrough.
The Knights offensive line controlled the Oilers front five all night.
One of the best performances of the night came from the Knight's defense which stopped the Oilers in the red zone many times while holding them to a shutout.
West quarterback Fountain racked up 118 yards of total offense mainly hooking up with Van Wilson who got over 70 yards of total offense.
Back Nick Baughman also came up with 86 yards of total offense. West's Carlessio Blanks played a big part of West' offense carrying the ball over 15 times.
West Lauderdale stands at 3-1 as they look ahead to next week's second home district game versus Newton County.