WCHS drops loss to Tarrant in homecoming

DOUBLE SPRINGS - It was an unlucky Friday the 13th for the Winston County Yellow Jackets, and homecoming also coincided with the full moon. Instead of the purring expected out of the Tarrant Wildcats, they let out a ferocious yowl and trampled the Jackets 26-6.
As the game began with Tarrant in possession, the Jackets nearly intercepted the ball, but the Wildcats held on. However, the Jackets’ defense forced the first punt on the night for Tarrant.
After several plays, Tarrant’s JaQuis Smith ran for a 74-yard touchdown, though the yellow penalty flag was thrown against them for holding, negating the run. The first quarter ended with the scoreboard dark.
The bad moon was rising in the second quarter, but instead of interfering with the Jackets, the home team seemed to gather speed and agility. However, Tarrant turned up the heat and scored two touchdowns on the quarter: the first delivered by Jaterryus Boyd on a 22-yard run and the second by Smith for 80 yards. The Jackets kept the two-point conversions  from happening, and the first half ended 12-0 in Tarrant’s favor.
Homecoming night activities began for the halftime show, with the queen announced as Mackenzie Blackwood, who was crowned by Winston County High School Principal Jeff Cole. She was escorted by her father Rodney Blackwood. The 2018 homecoming queen, Saige Blanton, was unavailable due to a volleyball tournament.
Homecoming princess is chosen differently than homecoming queens, with the princesses chosen from the freshman, sophomore and junior classes. The queen and alternates were chosen by a secret ballot two days before the game.
Other winners were as follows:
first alternate, homecoming queen, Kayla Stromatt, with her brother, Jaden Stromatt, performing escort duty;
second alternate, homecoming queen, Mackenzie Heatherly, escorted by her father, Craig Morgan;
freshman homecoming princess, Bailey Kelley with her father, Jason Kelley, as escort;
sophomore homecoming princess, Makayla Lindsey, with father Steven Lindsey as escort;
junior homecoming princess, Cheyenne Suggs, who was escorted by her father, Bobby Suggs.
Deep in third quarter, Winston’s James Abbott intercepted the ball at their own one-yard-line and took it back 64 yards across midfield.  The Jackets couldn’t capitalize on the turnover, however, and were were eventually forced to punt.
Once back in Jacket hands, the ball was carried for the lone WCHS touchdown on the night with the honors delivered by Austin Owens. Their two-point try failed, but they were halfway to tying with Tarrant, 12-6.
It was in the last quarter that the Tarrant offense put the game out of reach with two more touchdowns in the last 10 minutes of the game. Smith did the honors for both, with the first one on a 43-yard run. When the clock hit zero, the score stood at 26-6.
Winston County had a total of 236 rushing yards on the night, with five yards passing for 241 yards of offense.  Austin Owens racked up 187 yards on 25 carries on the night, with one touchdown and one interception.
Tarrant had 377 rushing yards and 41 yards passing for 418 total yards of offense.  
The Yellow Jackets will travel to Sulligent this Friday for a key region matchup.  The Jackets beat Sulligent last year 40-35.