Hayti unleashes all-out air attack on East Prairie

HAYTI -- Hayti opened the season with a 52-0 win over East Prairie on Friday, throwing for 299 yards with four touchdown passes.

"They are a good ballclub," said East Prairie head coach Ken Latham. "I think they are one of the better teams in the area. They're awfully impressive."

On the first play of the game, quarterback Pete Peterson unloaded a 50-yard touchdown pass to Torey Nelson. Three minutes later, Jason Covington broke off a 59-yard TD run. One minute later, Dominique Robinson scored from one yard out.

With 7:21 left in the first, Peterson hooked up with wideout Llewellyn Borders for a 41-yard touchdown pass. He then found Dominique Robinson for a two-point conversion pass.

Nelson ended the first quarter with a seven yard TD run to make it 33-0.

In the second quarter, Antonio Robinson scored a six-yard touchdown, then Peterson found Timmy Grissom for a 25-yard TD pass.

The Indians took a 46-0 lead into the locker room at halftime.

"We struggled with our pass coverage," said Latham. "(Hayti) never really threw the ball downfield on us, but they threw a lot of short passes and we had trouble making the tackle."

At halftime, Hayti had 375 yards of offense compared to East Prairie's 23.

The Indians played their junior varsity offense the entire second half. In the fourth quarter, backup QB Brian Lacey threw a 36-yard TD pass to Fredrino Robinson to make the final score 52-0.

Peterson finished the game with 195 yards on 6-of-6 passing. Lacey threw for 104 yards on 8-of-11 passing with one interception.

For East Prairie, Matt Boyer threw for 72 yards on 7-of-16 passing.

"It really wasn't as bad as the final score indicates," said Latham. "We did a lot of good things. Kind of like our jamboree, we did good things really well, then bad things really bad. The kids played hard and never quit."

Borders finished with two catches for 77 yards. Nelson caught two for 69 yards, Fredrino Robinson caught two for 47, Antonio Robinson had three for 34 and Danny Mack had two for 32.

Timmy Grissom, Brandon Peoples and Dallas Winda also had catches.

For East Prairie, Kaleb Thurman caught four passes for 44 yards and Jacob Poore had three for 28.

Josh Thurman led all East Prairie rushers with 33 yards. Brent Harland had 26 yards on 11 carries.

Nelson paced Hayti on the ground with 63 yards on 10 carries. Hayti (1-0) will host Malden this Friday, while East Prairie (0-1) plays host to Cairo, Ill.

"We had a little talk after the game, and the kids were surprisingly upbeat," said Latham. "I think next week they'll be ready to go."