Water Valley(3-4, 1-1 Region 1-3A)  dropped their first region game of the year as their comeback fell short against Kossuth 22-21 on Friday night.

The Water Valley offense started the game with a long drive down the field that had taken 7:46 of the first quarter.  

The drive ended with a 22-yard touchdown pass from CJ Telford to Que Carothers. The Aggies would answer back with a long drive of their own and tie the game in the second quarter with a Jack Johnson 1-yard touchdown. The Blue Devil defense took advantage of an Aggie fumble to take the lead on a 72-yard touchdown.

The Aggies answered right before the half with a Jack Johnson touchdown run and a 2-point conversion to take the lead going into the half. Telford went 5-7 with 121 yards and two touchdowns in the first half.

Water Valley, as a team, rushed for 72 yards in the first half.

“Credit to them they are a good football team,” said Water Valley coach Brad Embry.  

Both defenses stood tall in the second half as Kossuth would run the clock for most of the half.

Kossuth’s Johnson scored his third touchdown of the night on a 1-yard keeper with 7:41 left in the 4th quarter. Water Valley drove down the field after forcing a Kossuth 4 and out in their own territory to put them in position to tie the game. The drive was highlighted by a 23-yard double pass from Telford to Jaden Morgan, who threw to Saveon Freeman to set up the goal line play. The Blue Devils punched it in two plays later on an end around to Carothers, who ran it in from 5 yards out. The Aggie defense held firm and stopped Jaden Morgan at the 1-yard line on the 2-point conversion, sealing the Kossuth victory. 

“We are still searching, in my opinion, to play our best game of the season. It is time to do that; we are four weeks into region play. We had a lot of penalties, and that is something we can control. We just have to control what we can control and go back to work,” said Embry

The Blue Devils finished with 154 yards passing in the game and 110 yards rushing in the game. Penalties and fumbles hurt the Blue Devils tonight as three drives were stalled because of penalties and fumbles to stop any Blue Devil momentum.    

Three Water Valley Blue Devils will represent their Water Valley in All star games this postseason. Jamerious Jenkins and Saveon Freeman will represent the Blue Devils in the Bernard Blackwell All-star game, and Brad Embry is the Scout coach for the Mississippi Alabama all-star game.

 Water Valley will continue region play on Oct. 21 as they travel to face Booneville. Water Valley defeated Booneville 56-27 last year. Kossuth (6-2, 3-0 Region 1-3A) will continue region play on Oct. 21 as they host  Mantatchie with a chance to win the region with a win.