Linden offense gets rest in 68-0 thrashing of Choctaw County

10-27-16 -- Linden, Ala. -- Timothy Thurman lifts Johnathan Biggs in celebration as the fourth quarter starts in Thursday night's game in Linden. Linden led by a score of 68-0 going into the fourth and went on to beat Choctaw County by a final of 68-0, finishing the regular season with a 10-0 record. (WAW | Stewart Gwin)
10-27-16 — Linden, Ala. — Timothy Thurman lifts Johnathan Biggs in celebration as the fourth quarter starts in Thursday night’s game in Linden. Linden led by a score of 68-0 going into the fourth and went on to beat Choctaw County by a final of 68-0, finishing the regular season with a 10-0 record. (WAW | Stewart Gwin)

Linden could have left its offense out of the equation Thursday night as its trounced Choctaw County 68-0 to cap a 10-0 regular season. The Patriots put 14 points on the board before ever taking a snap en route to building a 61-0 lead in an unflinchingly dominant first half. By the time the second quarter came to a close, Linden had run six offensive plays and scored six offensive touchdowns.

“Wow,” Linden coach Andro Williams said when learning of the uncanny statistic. “I’ve said every week up to this point that what’s different about this team is that it’s more explosive in the special teams part and the defensive part. I think we’ve gotten in the end zone every single game. All our checks are we look for every game, we have them. We try to limit the big play on the run and the pass every game and then try to get a score on special teams and on defense. That’s what we’ve been able to do the second half of the season anyway. We’ve found ways to get in the end zone. If we continue to do that, we feel good about us moving forward.”

Dequan Charleston opened the scoring less than two minutes into the contest with a 45-yard punt return. He repeated the feat from 62 yards away less than two minutes later to stretch the lead to 14-0.

The Linden offense took the field for the first time with about five minutes left in the first quarter. The drive proved short-lived as the Pats covered 53 yards in four plays and capped the possession with a 27-yard touchdown run from Charles Blackmon.

Linden’s fifth play of the contest saw C.J. Robinson sprint 52 yards for a score with 1:00 left in the first quarter. Isaiah Scott added to the Choctaw County misery with a 23-yard interception return for touchdown, the third non-offensive touchdown of the first quarter.

Charleston got involved in the action again with 10:55 to play in the second quarter when he picked off a pass and took it 37 yards for a touchdown to push the advantage to 41-0. DeAntonio Williams later scooped up a shanked punt and returned it 25 yards for a touchdown to move the lead to 47-0.

With 4:04 left in the second quarter, Graderius Brown blocked a Tiger punt that Johnathan Biggs scooped and returned for a 5-yard touchdown and a commanding 54-0 lead. DeAntonio Williams then forced and recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, allowing the Linden offense to take the field for only the third time in the game. The drive lasted one play as Xavier McIntosh sprinted 21 yards to the end zone for the 61-0 lead.

With the starters having taken only five snaps in the first half, Andro Williams still opted to play his second unit in the third quarter. Brown made the most of the opportunity with a 10-yard touchdown run to punctuate the scoring.

“We did what we wanted to do. That was our goal. We set out to try to finish region champions and put ourselves to be undefeated region champions at the end of the year,” Andro Williams said of his team’s 10-0 mark. “That’s our goal every year. The fact that we ended up as region champions was the biggest part of it. But, again, we wanted to try to make sure we could finish undefeated. It’s a twofold thing. If we weren’t undefeated, we would still be ready to start this new season. We’re going to try to come back in here Monday and get ready for the playoffs with Houston County. That’s where we’re at.”

Linden ran only 19 offensive plays in the game and tallied 215 yards. The Tigers ran 35 plays for 46 yards. Deauris Jones paced the defense with 10 tackles including two for loss. DeAntonio Williams contributed seven tackles with three for loss to go along with a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Christopher Virgess had a sack as part of a three TFL performance.

Linden (10-0) hosts Houston County Friday night in the first round of the Class 1A state playoffs.

“They, undoubtedly have a good football team. I think that region is a little bit better than what we’re thinking as a whole. We’re expecting a good football team to roll in here Friday night. I know the head coach and he has done a good job,” Andro Williams said. “They went 1-9 last year and coming back and winning six games this year and with probably an opportunity to win some of those games and be sitting as the second seed in that region instead of the four seed. We’ve got to be ready when they get here.”