By Brad Greer

North Delta’s Chris Reeves could not have picked a better time to catch his first touchdown pass of the season Friday night.

Trailing 21-18 and facing fourth-and-goal, Reeves hauled in a four-yard touchdown pass from Bateman Greenlee with 1:03 remaining in the game to give the Green Wave a thrilling 25-21come-from-behind district win over Tunica. The victory evened the Wave’s record at 3-3 and 1-1 in district play.

North Delta started the game-winning drive at midfield with 5:32 left to play. Sophomore tailback Tres Brasell scampered 22 yards to the Blue Devil 17 yard-line. Later in the drive, Greenlee converted a third down conversion with a two-yard gain to the six. Three plays netted two yards before the game-winning score.

“To be honest with you, we’ve never ran that play before, even in practice,” said North Delta head coach Lance Thomas said of the play. “ Reeves had been in the game but we just had not thrown the ball to him. It was just a simple tight end dump pass over the middle. The thing about Chris is he’s tall and has got great hands so we plan on using him more as the season goes on.”

   Thomas also gave credit to assistant coaches Brad Wilson and Hayden Sullivant for their role. “ Coach Wilson and coach Sullivant did an outstanding job this week getting our kids ready to play. They studied film, they prepaired the team and I am proud of them.”

    Tunica, (2-4; 0-2) took a 21-12 lead going into the fourth quarter before North Delta mounted their comeback. Starting on their own 45, the Green Wave marched 55 yards in five plays as Greenlee scored his second rushing touchdown of the night on a 16-yard run with 11:29 left to play. Brassell was then stuffed on the two-point conversion leaving the score 21-18. Brassell lead all rushers in the game with 122 yards on 21 carries.

    North Delta came out on fire in the first quarter, scoring on their  first two drives to take a 12- 0 lead. After rereceivinghe opening kickoff, the Wave marched 68 yards on 15 plays while chewing up nearly six minutes off the clock before Greenlee hooked up with Jim Tom Copeland on a six-yard touchdown pass on third and goal. Greenlee’s 18-yard keeper and Bryan Nickle’s 21-yard gain on 3rd-and-18 from the Blue Devil 37 kept the drive alive.

After Tunica turned the ball over  on their first possession, North Delta went to work again, this time driving 74-yards on seven plays to take a 12-0 lead on Greenlee’s five-yard scoring run at the 10:05 mark of the first half. Brassell’s 33-yard run and a 15-yard late hit penalty on the Blue Devils kept the drive alive.

Tunica finally got on the board with 3:00 mintues left in the half as Ridge Mullin plowed in from three yards out to make the score 12-7. The Blue Devils then took the lead less than a minute later when Robert Graves hit Bartlett Graves on a 16-yard touchdown pass with nine seconds left before halftime. The drive was set up on a 27-yard interception return by Chris Kimbrell to the Wave 20.

Tunica won the statistical battle by outgaining North Delta 230-191 on the night. The Blue Devils as a team rushed 43 times for 159 yards while North Delta had 181 yards on 38 carries. Robert Graves passed for 71 yards while his counterpart Greenlee was 2-of- 5 for 10 yards and two touchdowns. Greenlee also rushed eight times for 33 yards followed by Nickle with 22 yards on five totes. Hunter West contributed with three carries for six yards.

Next week, North Delta will travel west on Highway 6 for yet another district battle with rival Delta Academy.