An emphatic 35-0 victory last Friday night has garnered the Indianola Academy football team its first victory of the season.
In their first-ever football meeting with Sylva-Bay Academy of Bay Springs, the Colonels struck early and often in the first half to bolt to a 35-0 halftime score.
With that score remaining throughout the balance of the District 2-3A contest played on Legion Field, the Colonels improved their record to a 1-8, 1-2 mark.
Last Friday’s victory also appears to have secured a post-season playoff berth for the Colonels.
Meanwhile, the visiting Saints were sent back home last Friday still winless on the year as they now own a 0-9, 0-3 record.
With that victory in the books, the Colonels must turn their eyes toward a much stronger opponent in tonight’s regular season finale.
Taking a road trip today to defending 3A state champion Canton Academy, the IA squad will wrap up this season’s district play by taking on a Panthers squad owning a 6-3, 3-0 record.
Kickoff for today’s game is set for 7 p.m.
Owning a misleadingly average overall record, the Canton Academy Panthers’ three losses have been to very strong teams.
Thus far this season the Panthers have fallen to an undefeated team from Georgia, an undefeated Mississippi 5A public school squad (Holmes County Central High), and once-beaten Tri-County Academy of Flora.
The last time IA and Canton Academy met on a football field was in the 2019 season, a game in which the Colonels claimed a 33-7 victory.
That decision increased IA’s series advantage over Canton Academy to a 14-2 margin.
In last Friday’s win over Sylva-Bay Academy, the Colonels opened the game’s scoring with 7:08 remaining in the first quarter as Walker
Perkins scored the first of his two touchdowns on the night.
With his run to the endzone covering six yards, less than five minutes later Abel Williamson burst through the Saints’ defense en route to a 28-yard scoring run.
Haygon Sheedy then kicked the second of his five PAT kicks and IA owned a 14-0 lead after the first quarter.
In the second period, the Colonels scored three times within an eight-minute time span to take the game to its final 35-0 margin.
Perkins found paydirt at the end of a 4-yard run while Sheedy later sprinted 41 yards for an additional ground-attack touchdown.
The game’s final touchdown was earned when quarterback Lawson Zepponi and wide receiver EJ Hall collaborated on a 41-yard scoring pass play.
Offensively, the Colonels rushed 32 times in this game, an effort which accumulated 198 yards.
Williamson paced this attack with 87 yards on 10 carries while Perkins completed his night’s play earning 55 yards and two touchdowns on only five rushes.
Through the air, Zepponi completed all four of his passes which earned 57 yards and his touchdown to Hall.
Defensively, the Colonels limited the Saints to 136 yards of rushing and a negative three yards passing while recording their first shutout of the season.
Carson Miller led this team effort with four solo tackles and two assists, two of which were for losses.
While Weston Farmer turned in a three solo, three assist night of play, Matthew Gary was close behind with three solos and two assists.
Rounding out the leaders were Ty Killebrew and Brycen Stevens (3 solos, 1 assist apiece), Christopher Chow (1 solo, 5 assists), Perkins (2 solos, 2 assists, fumble recovery), and Evan Burke (pass interception, 1 solo, 2 assists).
