GALLMAN, Ms. – It wasn’t the way the Apaches or their new head coach wanted to start the season, but following the 58-7 pounding put on them by Class 4A Copiah Academy, Glenbrook can now look forward to competing on a level playing field.
“The odds were obviously stacked against us,” Carmikle said. “Anytime you’re playing a bigger school with a strong senior class and a long road trip like that, it puts you at a disadvantage. We’re not going to use that as an excuse for the way we performed, but getting a chance to play a school our size at home in front of friends and family, hopefully we’ll get to see a different level of energy from our guys.”
Copiah is expected to be one of the top teams in the MAIS’s top classification.
“They were big up front,” Carmikle said. “They were very physical and fundamentally sound. We had a big challenge and failed to play up to it. The good thing about football is each week you start with a blank slate.”
There weren’t many highlights to speak of, but Carmikle praised the play of the offensive line, among others.
“Early on the offensive line played fairly well,” Carmikle said. “There were times where our backs missed holes when they were there.
Hunter Vaughn played well at quarterback as the game went on. He and Joseph Windham made some big time plays. Joseph was a big time bright spot for us.”
Any solid play by the offense was overshadowed by sloppy tackling on the defense.
“The headline was missed tackles,” Carmikle said. “We had chances to make plays in their backfield all night and just missed tackles. If we can shore up our tackling we’ll be alright.”
Archer Moses led the defense with five tackles, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Parker Christy added four tackles, as did Lyle Reagan. Tyler Perryman added three tackles, including one for loss, while Garrett Sanders and Peyton Page had three tackles.
Hunter Vaughn finished five of 13 passing with 126 yards and a touchdown. Hayden Williams finished with one catch for 57 yards and the lone touchdown, while Joseph Windham led the team with three catches for 56 yards.
Marshall Meek carried nine times for 15 yards and Tyler Perryman carried six times for 25 yards.