Game Recap: Tupelo @ Lafayette

Tupelo Head Coach Ty Hardin likened his teams season opening victory to a boxing match which was accurate, but the scoreboard reflected more of a baseball game as the Golden Wave knocked off 5A contender Lafayette 5-3. Defensive stars were alive and well as had been expected with both squads. <a href="https://prepredzone.com/player/jacarius-clayton/">[player_tooltip player_id="104420" first="Jacarius" last="Clayton"]</a> is a man among boys on the Tupelo d-line and stands out even as Tupelo trots out one of the largest HS teams in history. Southern Miss DL commit <a href="https://prepredzone.com/player/dj-burgess-2/">[player_tooltip player_id="104438" first="DJ" last="Burgess"]</a> drew the attention of prized Tupelo LT <a href="https://prepredzone.com/player/zay-alexander/">[player_tooltip player_id="108897" first="Zay" last="Alexander"]</a> for the majority of the night which was a battle play in and play out itself. Burgess picked off a pass on the 2nd play of the 2nd half. <a href="https://prepredzone.com/player/mario-wilbourn/">[player_tooltip player_id="104460" first="Mario" last="Wilbourn"]</a>, another Lafayette, Southern Miss commit, steered the ship for the Commodores defensively and showed why he is one of the best sideline to sideline LBs for the class of 2022 in Mississippi. Other defensive names emerged on the night to have eyes on moving forward. Wilbourn’s brother, Martrell flanked him at LB and looks more than "the part" already. The younger Wilbourn, only a sophomore, stands 6"4 217lbs and shows similar athleticism to what makes his brother special. <a href="https://prepredzone.com/player/zech-pratt/">[player_tooltip player_id="107037" first="Zech" last="Pratt"]</a> for the Golden Wave proved why we have him so highly rated with a PBU on Lafayette’s last effort on 4th down from their own 30 yard line. Pratt was not challanged by Will Dabney, Lafayette QB, all night and rightfully so. The Commodores got a field goal from Tristan Fiew at the end of the 1st qtr to take a 3-0 lead which held up all the way until the halftime break. The field position battle and time of possession battle was squarely on Coach Michael Fair of Lafayette’s side thru the first half holding the Golden Wave to 14 total offensive snaps. Momentum took a swing in the favor of Tupelo halfway thru the 3rd qtr as Lafayette snapped the ball over the punters head and thru the back of the endzone to bring the Wave within a point. Trailing 3-2, Tupelo took the free kick and worked the ball into Lafayette territory with their first true drive of the night offensively, but it stalled out with a missed 25 yard FG with 3:29 to go in the 3rd qtr. Lafayette would regain the ball and immediately fumble it back to the Golden Wave two plays later deep on their own side of the field. After a dropped would be TD pass, Gideon Deaton came on and knocked home a 39 yard FG to give the Golden Wave the 5-3 lead that would hold the rest of the way. Looking forward, expect to see Tupelo and Lafayette be the class of the field in 6A and 5A respectively on the defensive side of the ball. Tupelo (1-0) travels to Lee County rival Saltillo next week and Lafayette (0-1) faces another 6A opponent in Horn Lake.