By Pat Culverhouse
North DeSoto’s Luke Delafield threw for 224 yards and five touchdowns to lead the state’s number one ranked Class 4A team to a 63-13 romp past Minden’s Crimson Tide Friday.
After the Tide and Griffins traded turnovers on early possessions in the first quarter, North DeSoto finally turned a Brayden Thomas interception at the Tide 17-yard line into a 7-0 lead with just over three minutes remaining. Braelyn Latin ended the brief drive with an eight-yard scoring run.
Another Griffins interception at midfield led to an eight-play drive that ended when Latin hauled in Delafield’s first TD toss with 41 seconds left in the quarter. Dakota Denney kicked North DeSoto into a 14-0 lead.
Minden had started the game on a good note, falling on a Griffins fumble at the Tide 45 on the game’s second play. Nine plays later, however, Ethan Ivy picked off a Hudson Brown pass at the Griffins’ 10 and returned to midfield to end the threat.
After Latin scored on a 33-yard run with 7:49 to go in the second quarter to make it 21-0, Kaiden Shine gave the Tide life when he broke off tackle and sped 75 yards to pay dirt. Braxton Glover’s kick cut the Griffins lead to 21-7.
On first play following the ensuing kickoff, Delafield connected with Khy Johnson for a 44-yard score and a 28-7 lead. That score was followed on the Griffins’ next possession when Delafield found Colton Lacour open for a 22-yard score and a 35-7 lead at the half.
Delafield hooked up with Miller Warren in the third quarter for a pair of TD passes (30 and 20 yards) to push North DeSoto ahead 49-7.
Minden got on the scoreboard with just 23 seconds left in the quarter when sophomore quarterback Jaden Johnson found Caylien Aubrey open across the middle for a 69-yard scoring pass. A two-point try failed and the Tide trailed 49-13.
North DeSoto came back to ground in the fourth quarter with two scores. Derik White ran it in from 23 yards out and Kerry Hunter closed out the scoring with a 22-yard burst off tackle.
Delafield finished the night completing 14 of 24 pass attempts, connecting four times with Warren who finished with 93 receiving yards. Latin was the game’s leading rusher, picking up 129 yards on 23 attempts.
For the Tide, Brown completed 11 of 20 attempts for 131 yards. He also picked up 26 yards rushing on six tries. Johnson was one-for-seven passing for 69 yards and two interceptions.
Shine led the Tide rushers with 90 yards on six tries, Caylien Aubrey had 22 yards on three attempts, Lucas Owens Jr. picked up 21 yards on 12 carries and Johnson had 14 yards on four rushes.
Johnson also had 38 receiving yards on five catches. Aubrey led the team in receiving yards with 99 on four catches. Shine caught two for 47 yards and Kameron Harris had one catch for 16 yards.
North DeSoto now stands at 6-0 on the season and 3-0 in District 1-4A. The Tide falls to 2-4 on the year and 1-2 in conference play.
BTW will come calling to W.W. Williams Stadium Friday for another 1-4A contest. The Lions are currently 4-2 for the season and 1-2 in the league.