FireAnts win on home turf

02/26/03 FireAnts Press Release

The Tupelo FireAnts defeated the Beaumont Drillers, 26-25 at the BancorpSouth Center Saturday night.

The FireAnts never trailed in the contest as Tupelo took the early lead on a 21-yard touchdown pass from Matt Wyatt to Darryl Carter midway through the first quarter and went up 7-0 on the successful Chris Freeman point after try. Later in the first, Tupelo FireAnts halfback Allen Copeland rumbled in from eight yards out to give the Ants a 13-0 lead. Beaumont finally got on the board towards the end of the first quarter on a 36-yard Derrick Taite pass to Pat Palmer to pull the Drillers to a 13-6 deficit.

Tupelo took a 20-6 lead as Chris Rainey hauled in a 15 yard pass in the corner of the end zone at the 12:05 mark followed by the successful point after by Chris Freeman. The FireAnts scored the final points of the half as Allen Copeland scored his second rushing touchdown of the night with one second remaining in the half to give the FireAnts a 26-6 lead going into halftime.

Beaumont scored three touchdowns on the second half on Derrick Taite pass completions to Pat Palmer for a 24-yarder and Shock Davis on a 4-yard strike sandwiched around a Troy Sumrall 2-yard scoring run to bring Beaumont to a one-point deficit at 26-25. Tupelo sealed the contest on a Courtney Dinkins interception in the final minute to give Tupelo the victory in front of an elated 1,578 fans at the BancorpSouth Center in Tupelo, Mississippi. The win improves the Tupelo FireAnts record to 1-4 while the loss drops Beaumont to 4-2.

Tupelo travels to Houma, Louisiana on Sunday, May 4th. The ‘Ants take on the Austin Rockers in Texas on May 10th. Tupelo returns to the BancorpSouth Center on May 17th as the Houma Bayou Bucks come to town. For more information, call the FireAnts at (662) 620-2483.