Inspired Turner leads
Warriors to win
By Chris Whitaker
Deer Creek’s Chance Turner was an inspired man Friday night.
His grandfather was diagnosed
in May with Stage 4 lung cancer and was admitted to the hospital Wednesday.
“My grandma texted me (Friday) night and told me he wanted
me to finish the season out for him because he didn’t know if he’d be able to
make it to anymore of my games, but he’d be with me every play,” said the
senior running back and linebacker.
Turner played for his grandfather, who would have been a proud one
if he was in attendance. Turner rushed for a career-high 207 yards and four
touchdowns, and he made eight tackles and recovered a fumble on defense as Deer
Creek was back to its Warrior ways in a 41-12 win against Claiborne (La.).
“It just made me want to play harder for him. He was a running
back, too, when he was in high school,” Turner said. “The line was blocking
good, and we changed the offense up a little bit and added some plays. We went
to a spread, and it opened up everything because you don’t have so many people
in the box like when we’re in the I (formation).”
The Warriors (3-3) scored 29 unanswered points after the Rebels
tied the game on a 50-yard pass from Tyler Pitson to Brock Ayers in the second
quarter. Chris Smith put the Warriors back on top for good with a 11-yard run
as Deer Creek led 20-12 at the half.
Turner added touchdown runs of 4, 48 and 21 in the second half to
go with his other 16-yard touchdown.
“He was rolling,” said DC coach Murry Rhodes. “It was just fun to
watch. He was relentless. You thought he was stopped, but he kept running his
feet and wouldn’t go down. He had an impressive night and much needed.”
Turner has been hampered with shoulder and knee problems all
season. But he felt 100 percent for the first time this season on Friday.
The Warriors rushed for 384 yards. Hobie Hobart had 60 on 13
carries, and Chris Smith had 56 on four attempts. Hobart was 4 of 11 passing
for 38 yards, with three of the passes going to Smith for 35 yards.
Hobart also had a 4-yard touchdown run to open the scoring for an
early 6-0 lead.
Defensively, Stone Bennett had 13 tackles, and Grant Muncher added
six. Claiborne had averaged 45.3 points in their three wins this year and three
in its two losses.
“It was a great win for us,” Rhodes said. “I was really pleased
how we fought back from last week’s loss. The defense was flying around, and
they just played physical. We were able to cut off their outside runs really
good.”
The Warriors host Greenville Christian this week, and Turner plans
on carrying on for his grandfather the rest of the season.
“I know it means a lot to him,” Turner said. “I hope it goes like
this the rest of the year. I hope we can go 5-0 and I can do the same thing
every Friday night.”
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Photo by Carol Hunter
