Things to like for Charles Henderson and Pike County

August 23, 2008

By Ken Rogers

Saw the annual Pike County-Charles Henderson game Friday night. It’s unlike any preseason game or jamboree I’ve ever seen.
It’s the real thing, folks.
Henderson broke a three-year losing streak to the Bulldogs, winning 35-20 and capitalizing on a tremendous first half.
Pike County, in its debut under new head coach Brad Waggoner, was horribly outplayed through the first two quarters.
Denzell Patterson fumbled the opening kickoff and Henderson’s Billy Neal recovered. Four plays later, junior quarterback K.D. Edenfield connected with junior Jawara White on a 20-yard touchdown reception on fourth-and-2.
On the ensuing possession, Pike County quarterback Josh Parker threw an out route for Quay Bailey on third-and-9. The Trojans’ Laquavious Bryant stepped in front of it and raced 60 yards for another score. Henderson led 14-0 just 3:16 into the game.
The lead grew later in the quarter when Edenfield threw a strike to Jabari Brown over the Bulldogs’ Tevin Andrews and Jarrod Wilson.
Henderson had the game all but won by tacking on two more scores inthe final two minutes of the first half. Edenfield scored on a 4-yard keeper, capping an eight-play, 55-yard drive with 1:23 left in the second period.
Gestavious Barnes got the ball back for Troy, making an interception with 46 seconds left in the half. Edenfield took advantage with a 21-yard strike on a slant route to Corey Dennis in the end zone. 35-0 at halftime.
They nearly added an exclamation point. The Trojans took the opening kickoff of the second half and kept the ball more than six minutes. However, Wilson intercepted Edenfield’s pass in the end zone. It seemed to give the Bulldogs a huge lift.
In fact, they played with more emotion from that point and controlled things for most of the second half as CHHS coach Hugh Fountain played a number of younger players.
That doesn’t take anything away from Pike County. Parker settled down and used his feet to make plays. A couple fine runs set up Chris Griffin’s 2-yard touchdown run that made it 35-7 with 19 seconds left in the third quarter.
Parker hit Patterson on a 39-yard touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to 35-14.
Fullback Josue Rodriguez scored on a 1-yard run with 37.6 seconds left for the game’s final score.
There were parts that both coaches had to like. Fountain had to like seeing the Trojans establish control in the game’s opening moments. Despite the 15-point final margin, it was over by halftime. Still, enough went wrong as they unsuccessfully tried to run the clock that there are things the Trojans will work on before their season opener against Greenville.
Waggoner had to be proud of his team’s pride. The Bulldogs’ better play kept it from being a blowout. They’ll benefit by this warmup week as they prepare for Friday night’s opener against Carroll in Ozark.