OLIVE BRANCH —  Once again, the better team showed itself early and often Friday night.

The Oxford Chargers pick up another dominant region win by defeating the Lewisburg Patriots 48-13. Offensively, the Chargers executed at a high level, something that has been an issue in the early part of the season.

“I’ve been proud of how we’ve been executing offensively,” head coach Chris Cutcliffe said about his offense. “Thats a big challenge that we’ve made to our guys, we had to execute at a higher level and that starts in practice. We’ve put together some good practices and I think its carrying over to Friday nights.”

John Reece McClure accounted for a varsity career high five touchdowns. In the air, McClure completed nine of his 14 passes for 231 yards and three touchdowns. McClure was also able to get two scores on the ground.

On the ground, Hiram Wadlington carried the ball 17 times for 147 yards. Wadlington also caught a 14 yard receiving touchdown early in the third quarter. His backups Kalin Brown and Lance Stewart combined for 102 yards rushing. Defensive back Devin Rockette was called over to the offensive side of the ball to score a rushing touchdown.

Barry Flowers is usually Oxford’s receiver who puts up big numbers at receiver, it was DeDe Pegues’ turn in this game. Pegues caught a career high three catches for 146 yards and two long touchdown receptions, 125 of those yards were after the initial catch. Flowers caught three passes for 40 yards.

The Charger defense has now allowed three offensive touchdowns in three region contests.

“We always think about if they don’t score, they can’t win,” D.Q. Thomas said about his defense’s mentality. “So we do our part and we want the offense to do their part, so when those two things come together, we can’t be stopped.”

Quentin Wilfawn and Cameron Bailey led the Chargers with eight tackles. Jerry Quiller and Jordan Carothers were each able to get two sacks a piece, D.T. Thompson also recorded a sack.

D.Q. Thomas had himself an interception on the first drive of the ball game within the first three minutes of the ball game. Rockette also picked off a Lewisburg pass early in the second quarter.

Extra Points

Turning Point:

The Chargers took a 26-0 lead late in the second quarter. Lewisburg did not throw in the towel just yet. The Chargers fumbled on their own half of the field with about five minutes left until halftime. Lewisburg quarterback Bryce Brock found his man Drake Darby in the back corner of the end zone to get the Patriots on the board with 3:47 left until halftime. The Patriots then began to put a lot of pressure on McClure and tackled him in the backfield for a sack on back to back plays. The Chargers were forced to punt. The Patriots got a hand on Gray Jenkins’ punt and Caleb Williams of Lewisburg got the ball and found his way to the end zone for a Patriot touchdown. Just like that, Oxford’s lead was cut to 15 points with 2:18 left in the first half. The Chargers were able to get two points before halftime when Peyton Coker couldn’t catch a bad snap that went through the back of the end zone which gave the Chargers a safety with 20 seconds left in the half. The Patriots made a spark, but the Chargers were just too much for Lewisburg to deal with down the stretch.

Playmaker:

Pegues put up his first 100 yard receiving game of his varsity career, It only took him three catches to do so. Pegues had a 62 yard touchdown reception late in the first quarter and a 76 yard touchdown reception on the first play of the second quarter. Pegues ended the game with almost 50 yards a catch.

“I had to step up since he’s [Jaquan Webb] been out for the past three games so I just wanted to step up for him, show my team that I’m here and I’m always here for them,” Pegues said.

Talking Point:

“We’ve gotten better every week,” wide receivers head coach Logan Dodson said about his team. “I think the game seven Oxford team beats game one Oxford team, so I’m around of them in that regard.”

Notes:

• At halftime, a tribute was played on Lewisburg’s video screen remembering the Poole, Farese, and Perry families of the Oxford community who died in a devastating plane crash in August of this year
• The Chargers have scored more points the last two weeks against Lewisburg and Saltillo (90) than they had the first five games of the season (74)
• Up next for the Chargers is their homecoming game against the New Hope Trojans.