By Jared Redding

EAGLE Contributor

WATER VALLEY — The Blue Devil defense played for 48 minutes Friday night. As a result, they get to play another game next week.

Water Valley used 27 unanswered points to blow past the Yazoo County Panthers and win 34-6 in the opening round of the MHSAA Class 3A playoffs. The Blue Devils will face Booneville next week, a team that defeated Aberdeen 23-12 in the opening round.

After giving up a 62-yard touchdown run midway through the first quarter, Water Valley’s defense suffocated the Panthers for the remainder of the night.

“They played a four-quarter game,” Water Valley head coach Brad Embry said. We were gap sound and disciplined. They popped one on us, but Yazoo County has a lot of deep play threats. Our defense then played the way we were capable of.”

Bud Tolbert also had an interception late in the first half to prevent the Panthers from scoring before halftime.

After a defensive slugfest in the first half, the Blue Devils led 13-6. Darius Tolbert helped bust the game open with a 16-yard pick six late in the third quarter. He added another pick-six under two minutes left in the game for good measure.

“[Tolbert] has a great nose for the football and very intelligent,” Embry said. “He played great, as well as all of them. His teammates put a lot of pressure up front. It was a whole team effort.”

Yazoo County did not allow many big plays through the air all night. Jacob Truss led the charge for most of the game behind center mainly using his legs. His two rushing touchdowns led the team.

“[Truss] did a lot of good stuff tonight,” Embry said. “We had a little trouble throwing the ball and he is a good weapon on the ground, so we went that direction. He’s always been an athlete and we’ve been working on him as a quarterback.”

Tay Rucker also added a touchdown of his own midway through the first quarter for the first score of the game.