Tornadoes to face reigning champs

The Philadelphia Tornadoes opened the Class 2A state football playoffs with a 35-6 victory over Collins Friday night in prep football action.

Now the Tornadoes will host the defending Class 2A champion Taylorsville Tartars Friday night at Harpole Field. The two teams met in the third round of the playoffs last year with the Tartars taking a 47-30 victory.

Taylorsville comes in at 8-1 with their only loss coming to Class 5A power West Jones, 35-21. The Tartars opened the playoffs last week with a 55-8 win over Enterprise-Lincoln.

“They have all but a couple of linemen back from last year,” Coach David Frey said. “We are a young team this year. We just have to clean up our mistakes and play our best game this week.”

The Tornadoes struck early when Janaylon Dupree caught a 44-yard TD pass from Marcus Beamon. Connor Long kicked the extra point and the Tornadoes led 7-0 with 11:36 left in the first quarter.

Collins took the ensuing kickoff and drove 80 yards for a touchdown. Chase McKee scored on a five-yard run. The extra point try failed and the Tornadoes led 7-6 with 8:36 left in the first quarter.

The Tornadoes took the kickoff and ran seven plays before Beamon found Dupree on a 40-yard TD pass play. Long’s kick was true and the Tornadoes led 14-6.

That’s how it stood until the fourth quarter. Philadelphia pushed the ball into the Collins red zone but was unable to score. Meanwhile, the Philadelphia defense managed to contain Collins.

The Tornadoes picked up a safety when Collins was called for intentional grounding while in the end zone, and led 16-6 with 6:36 left.

Then Kadarius Calloway returned the free kick for a touchdown. Long’s kick was good and the Tornadoes led 23-6.

The Tornadoes kicked off and moments later, Nathan Overstreet recovered a fumble and returned it for a touchdown. The extra point try was no good and the Tornadoes led 29-6.

Imarion Black scored the final points on a short run.