By Whitman McGee
The Minden Crimson Tide needed to bounce back in a big way after their week one loss to Parkway and they did just that, manhandling the visiting Green Oaks Giants 48-6 Friday night, recording the school’s 500th all-time regular-season win.
Minden (1-1) scored on its first series, igniting the home crowd, with junior running back Daylen Robinson posting Minden’s first points on an 8-yard touchdown run.
Robinson did it again on the Crimson Tide’s next possession, running hard and scoring from four yards out for the rushing TD.
The Tide held Green Oaks (0-2) scoreless throughout the first half and scored twice more, both coming on the legs of quarterback Andrew Cooper.
Tyreese Lane’s 42-yard punt return, Isaiah Thorton’s 50-yard pick-6, and Cameron Mitchell’s 21-yard TD reception provided the Crimson Tide’s second-half scoring.
Senior kicker Carter Barnett scored on all but one of his seven extra-point attempts.
There was one thing Minden coach Spencer Heard wasn’t happy about – a second-half letdown.
“We came out a little flat to start the second half. We had a couple of bad snaps that put us in a hole.” Heard said. “The one thing in this game I was disappointed with was that we didn’t really finish the way I wanted us to finish. Other than that, I was very proud of everybody.”
Robinson has been extremely impressive to begin the season. With back-to-back 100-yard rushing performances, he has already accumulated 210 yards on the ground and 4 total touchdowns.
“He’s very, very important to what we are doing right now,” said Heard. “He runs extremely hard and has good vision.”
Speaking on the magnitude of Minden’s 500th all-time regular-season victory, Coach Heard stated, “I’m blessed to be the head coach when that happened. It’s a monumental thing for Minden High School and the community of Minden.”
While it truly is a huge milestone for the Tide, in typical Coach Heard fashion, he urged his players not to get complacent and to be ready to prepare themselves for the challenge ahead next week in the big parish rivalry game against North Webster.
Thanks to Mark Cherene and KASO/KBEF radio for supplying the Journal with the stats for Friday’s game.
