McGEHEE – A dominant defensive performance led DeWitt to its second road win of the season on Friday.
The Dragons defeated McGehee 27-0 in each team’s final non-conference game of the season at Rex Denton Stadium in McGehee.
DeWitt (2-1) coach Jason Hathcock said the defense stepped up on Friday.
“We had to tackle in a wet, muddy field,” Hathcock said. “Just really proud of how these guys gutted it out tonight.”
The DeWitt defense held McGehee (1-2) to 91 rushing yards and 0 of 2 passing. The Owls had 41 yards at halftime, at which point the Dragons led 13-0. DeWitt stopped the Owls on fourth down three times, forced four punts and recovered a fumble.
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One of those fourth down conversions came late in the third quarter. McGehee faced a fourth down and 2 at the DeWitt 37-yard line. Dragon sophomore Kaiden Golden timed the snap perfectly, slipping past the offensive line to make a 6-yard tackle for loss before the Owls’ play had a chance to develop.
The closest McGehee got to scoring was late in the fourth quarter when the Owls reached the DeWitt 3-yard line for a second down and goal to go. The Dragons made a 4-yard tackle for loss on second down, stopped McGehee for no gain on third down and broke up a pass toward the right side of the end zone on fourth down.
Hathcock said he called a timeout earlier in that possession, McGehee’s last of the game, to refocus his players.
“We do a little thing called ‘Cookouts for Shutouts,'” Hathcock said. “We said, ‘Hey guys, you ain’t getting burgers on Monday if we don’t stop them right here. I guess they wanted a cheeseburger on Monday.”
DeWitt took the lead with a 77-yard touchdown pass from Xavier Cox to Marshaun Bowers in the first quarter. In the second, Korri Graham made it 13-0 with a 3-yard run. Cox rushed for two touchdowns in the second half and completed a pass to Landyn Graham for a 2-point conversion.
Cox completed 10 of 17 passes for 194 yards. Bowers led the receivers with two receptions for 103 yards, while Graham rushed 16 times for 60 yards.
Hathcock said the Dragons’ offense showed it can throw or run in this game.
“They tried to take our run game away with Korri and focus on our running back, which is a good game plan,” Hathcock said. “But, we were able to throw the ball. Marshaun Bowers had several big catches. (Raedric) Frye had several big catches. Travis London had some catches. I think we had about five different receivers, and (Cox) was able to throw it to (them) and scramble at times.”
McGehee senior Amari Norman led the Owls with 38 rushing yards.