Daylen Robinson added another triple-digit rushing night and added his name to another spot in the Crimson Tide football record books, leading Minden to a 43-20 win over Woodlawn’s Knights in the season and District 1-4A finale for both teams Friday.
Robinson finished the evening with 143 yards on 20 carries and scored a pair of touchdowns, running his career TD total to 36. That moved him into sole possession of the number three spot in career rushing scores in Tide football history.
Quarterback Jakobe Jackson had a productive night, tossing a pair of touchdown passes and rushing nine times for 48 yards. Jackson’s two scoring passes came on 3-of-4 attempts worth 111 yards on an evening where high winds limited the Tide’s aerial attack.
Junior slot back Cameron Mitchell also contributed a big performance, rushing seven times for 47 yards and two touchdowns and hauling in a 19-yard scoring pass from Jackson for a three-touchdown performance.
Minden left no doubt that it had come to play, building a solid 30-0 lead in the first half behind a bruising running game mixed with timely passes. On the Tide’s second possession of the game, Jackson ended a run-heavy seven-play drive with a scoring strike to Mitchell that gave Minden the lead at 8-0.
With 8:54 left in the second quarter, Robinson moved closer to his career total with a 40-yard scoring burst up the middle, overrunning and outrunning Knights’ defenders to build a 16-0 Tide advantage. Just four minutes later the Tide took advantage of a two-yard Woodlawn punt when Jackson hit Jaylen Williams from 42 yards out for a 24-0 lead.
Minden’s final score of the half took only seven plays but could have come much sooner. Tiders Williams and Jackson had 60-plus yard touchdown runs on consecutive plays called back by questionable penalty flags, but Williams finally got the Tide into the endzone with a three-yard run. The big penalty-free play that got Minden into scoring range was a 50-yard completion from Jackson to Brian Swan.
A Brandon Henderson five-yard scoring run on the second half’s opening drive brought the Knights to within 30-8, but the Tide responded with two scoring drives to increase the margin. Robinson bulled into the endzone from one yard out for his 36th career TD with 36 seconds left in the third quarter, then Mitchell scored on an eight-yard run with 5:30 left in the game for a 43-8 Tide lead.
Woodlawn would tack on two touchdowns late in the game on a Donovan Reliford to Joshua Dodson four-yard scoring toss and a Reliford 10-yard scramble to end the night’s scoring.
Minden ends its season with an overall record of 4-6; 3-4 in district play. Coaches and players will now have to watch other scores and wait until later this weekend to see whether or not the Tide will continue its season by gaining a spot in the state playoffs. LHSAA rankings and pairings are scheduled to be announced Sunday.
