By Jeff Edwards / special to the star

Donathan Fortner had the first half of his life in Friday night’s 49-17 victory for West Lauderdale over Neshoba Central.

The Knights’ running back plowed through the underbelly of the Neshoba defense for 109 yards and four touchdowns before halftime. But the Knights were playing so well as a unit that coach Stan McCain didn’t even notice.

“I didn’t even know that,” McCain said when asked about Fortner’s big first half. “We try to take what they give us. They were giving us that and we were trying to take it.”

The Knights took a lot from the Rockets the entire game, rolling up 476 rushing yards and 561 total yards as they opened up Region 4-4A play with an impressive win. West is now 5-0 overall and 1-0 in the region.

It was the second straight week Neshoba Central gave up more than 350 yards on the ground, and coach Steve Cheatham said more defensive changes might be on the way.

“We made changes last week and moved guys around,” Cheatham said. “We’re doing everything we can to try and correct it. We’re going to have to have tryouts next week for defensive tackle just to try and find somebody that’s going to step up.”

West Lauderdale pounded the Rockets right from the opening drive, going 80 yards for a touchdown. Fortner capped off the drive with a 4-yard run to give the Knights a 6-0 lead.

Neshoba was feisty early, however, and came back to take a brief lead when Rocket quarterback Tyler McNeal found Ken Robinson down the sideline for a 66-yard bomb. Derek Crenshaw added the extra point.

The Knights were unfazed by Neshoba’s quick score and once again methodically drove down the field for a touchdown, with Fortner plunging in from 2 yards. The two-point conversion was good and West Lauderdale led 14-7 with just over a minute left in the first quarter.

After Crenshaw’s 43-yard field goal cut the lead to 14-10, West took control of the game for good on its next two drives. Fortner capped a short drive for the Knights with a 46-yard touchdown run with 4 minutes left in the first half and, after a McNeil interception, plunged in from a yard out with just over a minute left in the half for a 28-10 halftime lead.

Fortner finished the game with 165 yards and four TDs.

“Our offensive line took charge of the ball game,” McCain said. “We had to wait a little while for our defense to pick up but they played really well in the second half. It’s a total team win.”

Cheatham said that for the second week in a row, the trap play killed his defense, with Fortner crashing through the middle of the defense for big gain after big gain.

“We had a plan to stop us from getting around the outside but they would hit us with the trap and then would pop us with the counter trap,” Cheatham said. “They had a good scheme.”

Any Rocket comeback hopes were dashed on West Lauderdale’s second play from scrimmage in the second half, when quarterback Austin Davis faked a handoff to Fortner and raced 55 yards for a score.

West Lauderdale’s Darius Wren added two second-half touchdowns, one from 7 yards and another from 9 yards while the Rockets got an 11-yard pass from McNeil to Bass Price for their only score of the second half.

McCain said he is looking at it one game at a time.

“We look at it as being 1-0,” McCain said. “We’re taking everything one game at a time in this district.”