A game that features two of the best teams in Class 2A football in the Magnolia State will take place in Jefferson Davis County on Friday when the Taylorsville Tartars travel to take on the Bassfield Yellowjackets.
The Tartars will be looking for some revenge as they were bounced from the playoffs last year by the Yellowjackets, 51-14. Taylorsville also lost to Bassfield in the regular season two years ago.
“The past two times we have played them, we have turned the ball over a total of 12 times. If you turn the ball over against them, then it’s over,” said Taylorsville head coach Matt Caldwell. “We can’t do that. We have to execute well, and I think if we are executing well, it will be a good game.”
The execution on offense starts with QB Juwon Hayes-Keyes, who has passed for 2,422 yards, rushed for 849 yards and totaled 49 TDs. The two-way QB/DB has also tallied 101 tackles on the season.
Backfield mate Dione Sullivan (548 rushing yards, seven TDs) allows the Tartars to stay balanced with their offensive attack that averages 200 passing yards and 178 rushing yards per game.
Hayes-Keyes’ go-to receiver is 6-foot-3 senior Anfernee Sullivan, who has caught 49 passes for 955 yards (19.5 yards per catch) and 16 TDs.
Bassfield will counter the balanced attack of the Tartars with an offense that is designed to run the ball, then line up and run the ball again, and again.
The Yellowjackets average fewer than five pass attempts per game, but they have rushed for 4,251 yards (304 per game) this season.
Bassfield running backs Ron Thompson and Trodrick Daniels each average more than 10 yards per carry and both have rushed for more than 1,100 yards this season.
The Tartars will look to slow down the Yellowjackets’ attack with a swarming defense led upfront by Zurick McGill and linebackers Dontae Keyes and Dontarius Keyes. The three have 15 of the Tartars’ 26.5 sacks on the season.
Defensive back Devin Ducksworth leads a Tartars secondary which has totaled 12 interceptions, with three of his own.
Since opening the playoffs, both the Tartars and Yellowjackets have been hammering opponents.
Taylorsville has outscored St. Josephs and Union by a combined 95-13, while Bassfield has outscored Enterprise and Pisgah, 109-26.
The winner Friday night will advance to the Class 2A South State championship game next Friday against the winner of East Marion-Mize.
“We have known that is the hurdle you have to jump since August,” said Caldwell. “If you are going to get to Starkville, Miss., you are going to have to go through Bassfield to get there. And we are looking forward to it.”
Taylorsville (12-1) suffered its lone defeat of the season, 27-26, to Class 4A Quitman.
Bassfield (12-2) lost to Class 3A Collins and to Region 7-2A champion East Marion.
At this point in the season, who knows what will happen on Friday in Bassfield? Deciding the outcome can likely be done just as successfully by flipping a coin.
However, while the Yellowjackets lost to East Marion 24-20, the Tartars beat East Marion 32-26. And that is why I like Taylorsville to get the monkey off of its back and dethrone the defending Class 2A state champion Yelowjackets on their home turf.
THE GURU SAYS: Tartars 30, Yellowjackets 27
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