The Straughn Tigers put on a show for their homecoming crowd Friday night, handily beating the Excel Panthers, 47-14.

The Tigers dominated from the outset, scoring early and often with explosive plays on both sides of the ball.

Straughn wasted no time in striking first blood, as senior quarterback Chase Short ripped off a long touchdown run from midfield on the second play from scrimmage to give the Tigers a lead they would never relinquish.

Excel responded with an impressive drive of their own, but sophomore Rollin Kinsaul forced a fumble on a third down quarterback sack that was scooped up by Jamie Stewart and returned 75 yards for a touchdown.

After the subsequent PAT, the scoreboard read 14-0, Straughn, with 6:55 left in the first quarter of play.

The stingy Tiger defense rose to the occasion once again on Excel’s next possession, when senior Mason Farley picked off a third down pass at Excel’s 24-yard line.

Three plays later, the offense took advantage of a short field and junior running back Devin Scott bowled his way up the middle and into the endzone from three yards out, to bring the score to 21-0 with 5:01 remaining in the first quarter.

The Tigers’ offense and defense were both clicking on all cylinders now, and after a punt by Excel, the Straughn offense went back to work.

A 20-yard quarterback keeper by Short advanced the ball all the way down to the six-yard line, and two plays later, Scott reached pay-dirt for the second time on the night, this time from four yards away.

The PAT was missed, but the Tigers still led 27-0 with just under a minute remaining in the first quarter.

The Tiger offense would then take advantage of another Panther turnover, this time coming on a muffed punt.

After two consecutive penalties, Straughn was facing a first down and a mile. But Scott, adding to his already impressive stat line, broke off a 55-yard touchdown run to completely demoralize the visiting Panthers.

The PAT was good and with eight minutes left before the halftime show, SHS led big, 34-0.

Excel finally managed to get on the board with 2:34 left in the half, thanks to a nice touchdown pass over the middle and into the endzone.

The PAT was good, but the game was already practically over, as the halftime score was 34-7 in favor of the Tigers.

Scott added yet another scoring run midway through the third quarter and Kinsaul, the back-up quarterback, closed out the scoring for Straughn with a touchdown run with 1:47 left in the game.

Straughn head coach Trent Taylor was pleased that his team was able to put aside the distractions that accompany homecoming week and focus on getting the win.

“I told our guys we need to forget about homecoming and take care of business,” Taylor said. “We’ve got two good ones coming up in T.R. Miller and Opp. These next three weeks (including this one) are more about us than our opponent.”

Straughn hosts old foe T.R. Miller next week in region play.