By MATT VINES, Journal Sports
SHREVEPORT – A visiting Natchitoches Central team on a five-game losing streak had a decision to make Friday night after an early interception led to a Byrd touchdown in the opening minutes.
The Chiefs chose to fight, answering Byrd’s first two touchdowns with scores of their own.
Byrd proved to be too much in the second half of a 31-21 Yellow Jackets win, but NCHS showed once again that they won’t pack it in against teams higher up in the District 1-5A pecking order.
NCHS (1-6, 0-5) dropped its sixth straight game but the Chiefs’ last three losses came by a combined 21 points while the previous three losses came by a combined 86 points.
On Friday, the Chiefs answered Byrd’s first touchdown with an Owen Smith 54-yard bomb to KJ Newton to tie the score 7-7.
“We did get down really quickly, and we had to overcome that plus our (eight) penalties and really poor field position in the first half,” said NCHS coach Brad Laird. “Four of Byrd’s first five drives started in plus territory while all five of our drives started at the 20-yard line or worse.
“So us being able to tie the score at 14-14 put us in position to compete in the second half.”
Byrd was without its top two running backs in Christian Maxie and Desmond Simmons, but the Yellow Jackets rushing attack kept on rolling with a deep group of experienced ball carriers.
Collin Deere plunged in for his second touchdown of the night from seven yards to put Byrd back up 14-7 midway through the second quarter.
Deere compiled three touchdowns and 134 yards on 24 touches Friday.
Byrd totaled 304 rushing yards as a unit, but the Chiefs did limit big plays on the ground and forced the Yellow Jackets to piece together drives.
“When you see an offense like this just one time a year, you have to realize how fast it comes at you,” Laird said. “The dive gets on you fast, the quarterback can get to the edge fast, and pitches come at you fast.
“We did get a feel for it and created two takeaways. They did get one big passing play, which can happen when your eyes aren’t in the right place. But I felt like we played pretty well defensively.”
NCHS’s offense wasn’t done as they answered Byrd’s second score with a Smith 8-yard touchdown run to tie the Jackets 14-14 with just 30 seconds left.
Smith caused problems with his arm (18-of-30, 192 yards) and feet (41 yards, two rushing touchdowns).
“Owen is a special athlete, and I told our team that all week,” said Byrd coach Stacy Ballew. “He’s fast and can throw, and he made us pay with missed tackles.”
Byrd’s usual grinding offense has found the ability to strike quickly in recent weeks, and a long James Logan kick return (127 return yards on four returns) allowed Byrd to set up a 34-yard Asher Murray field goal with the 30 seconds it had to work with.
The Yellow Jackets pressed that 17-14 halftime advantage by scoring the first two touchdowns of the third quarter, a Deere 1-yard run and a 42-yard pass from Harrison Ayres to Alex Schoonover.
“We missed some opportunities in the second half,” Laird said. “We got a turnover early in the third quarter and started on Byrd’s 30, but we went for it on fourth and missed.
“We had a chance to build some momentum and take the lead early in the third. We also had an opportunity to force another turnover later in the fourth quarter that could have closed the gap to one score. We are getting better in different aspects of the game, but we’re just not consistent with it yet.”
NCHS did cut into Byrd’s 31-14 edge with Smith’s second rushing score (three yards) with under eight minutes remaining in the game (31-21), but the Chiefs couldn’t muster another push to reduce the deficit to one score.
Byrd forced a failed fourth down still in NCHS territory to eliminate any chance of a comeback.
The Chiefs will try again for their first district win when they head to district leader Airline (7-0, 5-0).
Contact Matt at sports@journalservicesllc.com
