Quick Poll

With Friday's announcement of her show coming to an end in 2011, has the Oprah Winfrey Show been a television 'must see' for you in the past 25 years?

Blogs

Angela McRae

Tea with friends

Deberah Williams

Everyday Finesse

Lorrie Lynch

Who's News

Published Saturday, October 31, 2009 in Sports

Tay-king care of business

By Tommy Camp

The Times-Herald

SHARPSBURG -- It was the Tay Willis Show here Friday night.

The East Coweta senior scatback not only had a career night, he had one for the ages.

He scored five touchdowns on runs of 64, 75, one, 74 and 59 yards, finished the night with 367 yards rushing on 16 carries, caught one pass for 13 yards and, by the way, the Indians beat Riverdale, 45-22, to clinch third place in Region 4-AAAAA.

"He really had a night for us," head coach Clint Wade said of Willis after the game. "Give a lot of credit to our offensive line too because they really blocked well."

The Indians, who scored the most points since beating Morrow 58-7 in game six of the 2007 season, improved to 7-2 overall and 6-2 in 4-AAAAA with their win, the fourth in a row heading into next week's regular season finale at Newnan.

"I was really proud of our kids tonight," Wade continued. "We've got a lot of injuries right now and we had to play some kids who haven't played that much, but they came through for us.

"We've been fortunate all year not to have many injuries, but I guess it's catching up to us now."

It didn't seem to affect the Indians all that much Friday.

Riverdale managed to hang around just enough to keep things interesting, but every time the Raiders appeared on the verge of getting back into the game, Willis would break another long touchdown run.

He now has 25 touchdowns on the year, all rushing.

He put EC on the board on just the third snap of the game with his electrifying 64 yard sprint and it was only an augury of things to come.

It was similar to his 84-yard tone-setter on the first play from scrimmage against Lovejoy three weeks ago.

Mikey Zeidler's PAT gave the Indians a 7-0 lead with just 54 seconds gone off the first quarter clock.

EC made it 14-0 on its next possession when quarterback Austin Ingram threw 21 yards to Felton James to cap off a 47-yard, seven-play drive.

It was Ingram's fourth TD pass of the year and James' first score of the season.

Riverdale cut into the lead midway through the second quarter going 81 yards after an East Coweta turnover with Deonte Trigger scoring from 11 yards out to make it 14-6.

But Willis worked his magic again on the first play after the kickoff, taking a direct snap from center Corey Hamlett, he raced 75 yards to give EC a 21-6 bulge with 6:56 left before halftime.

Taking over at their own 41 after Riverdale punted on its next possession, Willis dashed 47 yards to set up his third TD of the night which he scored moments later from the one.

Zeidler booted a 22-yard field goal, his eighth of the year, as time expired in the first half and EC carried a 31-6 lead into the break.

It was the third time this year the Indians had scored 30 or more points in the first half.

Riverdale took the second half kickoff and went 65 yards in 12 plays to make it 31-14 on LaQuavious Martin's 17-yard scoring run, but Willis came back with his 74-yarder five minutes later to blow EC's lead out to 38-14 with 1:52 to go in the third quarter.

Riverdale refused to roll over, however, and scored its final points on a 36-yard pass play from Martin to Samari Portlock with 5:43 left in the game.

The Indians answered on the second play after the kickoff with Willis sprinting 59 yards for the score with 4:52 left to play.

Willis has now scored at least one TD in eight of EC's nine games and since being shutout against Creekside, he's run the ball into the end zone 16 times.

Comment On This Story

Times-Herald.com does not necessarily agree with the comments posted below. Responsibility of comments rests solely with the writer. Comments posted in ALL CAPS will be deleted.

Submission of a comment does not guarantee publication. Comments will be posted by a moderator after being scanned for abusive language, relevance, etc. See our Comments FAQ for more details.