Walnut needed to make a statement and come out more physical on Friday after falling to South Pontotoc the week before.
Check and check for the Wildcats as they picked up a 55-28 homecoming win over JZ George to move to 4-1 on the season.
Walnut scored on the opening drive of the game with a nine yard touchdown pass from Cade Hunt to TJ Luellen. During that drive Walnut moved the chains twice on fourth down, the first one on a ten yard run by TJ Colom on 4th and 9, in which Colom absolutely earned the yard, refusing to go down by breaking multiple tackles. The second fourth down conversion came on a very nice play call from John Meeks as Cade Hunt hit Bubba Wilbanks in the flats on a play action pass.
Cade Hunt throws an absolute dart to TJ Luellen for a 9 yard TD. Walnut leads JZ George 7-0 with 5:44 to play in the first quarter. pic.twitter.com/hxl6c21VFc
The Wildcat defense forced a three and out on the Jaguars first offensive possession, stopping everything up the middle and dominating the line of scrimmage.
Cade Hunt took advantage of that opportunity by hooking up with TJ Luellen again on a 14 yard touchdown pass with 2:57 left in the quarter to put the Cats up 13-0.
The next JZ George possession ended quickly with a fumble recovery by James Hinson on the Wildcat 23 yard line with 1:47 left in the quarter. TJ Colom scored the third touchdown of the night for Walnut on a three yard run to put them up 21-0 at the end of the first.
The Jaguars third possession of the night ended again in disaster as TJ Colom intercepted a deep pass over the middle on a jump ball.
With everything going wrong for JZ George proved to have a lot of fight in them when James Journey scored on a 62 yard run with 6:55 left in the second quarter.
Walnut answered right back as they marched down the field, ending with a 4 yard touchdown run by TJ Colom to extend the lead 28-8 at the break.
Walnut would not let off the gas in the second half against a potentially dangerous opponent.
Cade Hunt threw his third touchdown pass of the night with a screen pass to Brandon Shields that he took 5 yards in for the score to put Walnut up 35-8 with 6:40 left in the third.
Both teams traded blows for the remainder of the quarter with a Jaguar touchdown, followed by TJ Colom’s third score on a five yard run with 2:33 left.
JZ George scored the last points of the quarter with a six yard run by Jacob Johnson.
Leading 42-20 entering the fourth, Cade Hunt showed off some athleticism with a nine yard touchdown run extending the lead to 49-20.
TJ Colom scored his fourth and final touchdown of the night on a 65 yard kickoff return to put Walnut up 55-28 and close out the game.
Hunt finished 7-1 for 88 yards and 3 TD to go along with 50 rushing yards and a score. Colom had 17 carries for 123 yards and 3 scores on the ground and the 66-yard kick return TD. Luellen ended with 119 yards total and a pair of scores.
The Wildcats went over 300 rushing yards on the night.
Big win for the Wildcats and a confidence builder as they head into division play in a huge game next week at East Union.
