By Justin Fedich | The Selma Times-Journal

The Dallas County Hornets’ offense didn’t get rolling right away, but once they did, they were nearly unstoppable.

Sophomore running back Calvin Starks sparked the offense in the second quarter with two big runs to lead Dallas County (1-1, 1-0) to a home 34-6 win over Jemison (0-3, 1-0) Friday in the first game of Class 5A, Region 4 play. The Hornets’ defense stopped the Panthers from scoring early, and it allowed Dallas County to get its offense rolling.

As dominant as Dallas County was, the first quarter ended in a 0-0 deadlock. Both teams’ offenses failed to get anything going as each team’s quarterbacks tossed an interception.

The Hornets’ Quincy Parker and the Panthers’ Zachary Deason were on the receiving ends of the interceptions.

In the second quarter, Dallas County’s offense and defense stepped up. As Dallas County continued to stop Jemison on fourth down, the Hornets were able to find holes in the Panthers’ defense.

The first offensive spurt for either team came midway through the second quarter when Starks broke free and ran for 49 yards from Dallas County’s 11-yard-line. Two plays later, Starks was in the end zone after a 35-yard rush. Starks finished as the game’ leading rusher with 114 yards.

“We were just a half-step quicker at that time, and Calvin was able to hit that half-step and get some things generating in order to be able to get our offense going,”

The Hornets were about to go to halftime with a 7-0 lead when quarterback Lane Wallace ducked a potential sack with less than a minute in the second quarter and ran for 30 yards down to the 5-yard-line. Smith was impressed with the play because he said Wallace usually runs more like a tortoise than a hare. One play later, Wallace hit Delando Atchison for a 5-yard touchdown pass. Dallas County took a 14-0 lead into halftime.

Dallas County kept the momentum rolling into the second half. Atchison scored again with a  4-yard rush with 7:48 remaining in the third quarter.

Atchison wasn’t the only Hornets’ player to score twice against Jemison. Dallas County’s Darrell Moorer put the finishing touches on a blowout win with a 56-yard touchdown run with 2:52 remaining in the third quarter and a 25-yard touchdown run with 7:02 left in the fourth quarter.

Jemison managed to use its hurry-up offense on its final drive of the game to score with under a minute remaining in the fourth quarter. The Panthers’ Adrian Jackson punched the ball in from the 1-yard-line with 35 seconds remaining to avoid the shutout.

While Dallas County’s offense performed better than it did last week in its 13-6 loss to Selma, it was the Hornets’ defense that stepped up to the challenge over and over again.

Despite coming close to the end zone multiple times, Jemison was unable to capitalize on its early red zone trips.

“We had a couple of defensive stands. It actually gave us momentum even though you’d think that Jemison had momentum because we were still fresh sitting on the sidelines,” Smith said.

When the Panthers tried to score a touchdown in the second half to mount a comeback, the Hornets’ Anthony Oliver intercepted a pass in the end zone and returned it 25 yards.

Smith was proud of the complete effort his team displayed Friday.

“For us to turn this program around, we’ve got to play 11 on offense and 11 on defense and we consistent at it,” Smith said.

Dallas County will hope to continue to play consistently on the road next Friday against Helena.