North Side beats Dyer Co.
Despite a lack of execution on offense and having to overcome a number of penalties, North Side defeated Dyer County on homecoming night, 49-34.
“I have never seen so many penalties,” said North Side coach Donnie Nickey. “We executed poorly, but it was enough to get the lead.”
Dyer County received the ball first and put together a four-minute, 84-yard drive to take the early 7-0 lead on a 22-yard passing touchdown.
North Side quarterback Dexter Pirtle threw an interception on the Indians’ first drive, but redeemed himself quickly, intercepting a Choctaw pass and taking it back 40 yards for the touchdown with 3:37 in the first quarter to tie the game at 7-7.
North Side scored its second defensive touchdown with 10:28 in the second quarter, this time on a 75-yard interception return by Kylan Woods. The Indians could have scored four defensive touchdowns on the night, but the other two were called back because of penalties.
“The defense made good breaks on the ball,” said Nickey. “Our speed showed tonight. They couldn’t run the ball, so they had to pass, which gave us some opportunities.”
North Side’s defense forced a third turnover on Dyer County’s next drive, scoring two minutes later on a 29-yard touchdown run by Darius Brown to make the score 21-7, which was the halftime score.
Brown opened up the second half with another touchdown, this time a 55-yard run to push the score to 27-7, after the PAT was blocked.
Forced to punt after getting the ball back, North Side’s punt was blocked by Dyer County. The Choctaws would punch it in on a 5-yard run with 5:27 left in the quarter to make it 27-14.
There was a flurry of scoring in the fourth quarter, with North Side and Dyer County scoring on three consecutive drives fueled by penalties.
“We had selfish penalties,” said Nickey. “The unsportsmanlike penalties showed that we didn’t have composure.”
Having built the lead to 49-20 on touchdown runs by Mark Cockrell and Pirtle, Dyer County scored two touchdowns in the final 26 seconds to make the final score 49-34.
North Side travels to Crockett County next week in another region matchup. With the win, the Indians improve to 4-2 (3-1 in Region), while Dyer County drops to 2-4 (1-3 in Region).
More inside and online
• Find out about results, stats, scores from around the state and updated region standings, D2
• Lexington outlasts Chester County in overtime, D3
• South Side struggles to score, D3
• Haywood has a big night at homecoming by beating a neighboring rival, D3
• USJ has a productive night at ECS, D3
• Riverside’s Drake Smith has a good night in leading his team to a win at TCA, D4
• Huntingdon wins big and Humboldt nearly pulls off a big upset in the roundup, D4
• Photo galleries and videos from selected games at jacksonsun.com.