Sunday best: Essang Bassey wins individual battle with Smothers

Leading up to Columbus' matchup against Marion County, a lot of the intrigue was centered around the one-on-one showdown between two of the area's best athletes, the Eagles' Lorenzo Smothers and the Blue Devils' Essang Bassey.

For at least one night, Bassey came out on top.

He limited Smothers to just 26 total yards of offense all game and added a 30-yard fumble return for a touchdown to help the Blue Devils hang on for a 21-14 win that kept their record spotless, 4-0 for the first time since 1971.

For his efforts, Bassey is the Sunday Best top performer of the week.

Here's a look at the rest of the weekend's top performers.

The Central defense: You can name them all off individually, they all registered in major statistical categories. Karon Delince had an interception. So did John Broussard. Markail Benton, Toron Morten and Walter Pritchett all had tackles for loss or sacks.

Altogether, the unit held Prattville to 10 points in a 20-10 win at Garrett-Harrison Stadium.

B.J. Knight, Shaw, quarterback: After back-to-back losses, the Raiders got back on track thanks in part to a big night from Knight. The quarterback was 10-of-14 for 186 yards and four touchdowns passing and carried eight times for 85 yards rushing in a 45-17 win over Northeast-Macon.

Romello Kimbrough, Jordan, quarterback: As has become custom, Kimbrough accounted for three more touchdowns, albeit in a 42-27 loss for Jordan. The quarterback had 178 yards and two touchdowns passing and added 89 yards and a touchdown on the ground.

Jawon Pass, Carver, quarterback: Pass ran for three touchdowns and passed for another in the Tigers' win over Troup. He passed for 238 yards and ran for 42.

Cameron Jessie, carver, running back: Jessie led the Tigers with 148 yards rushing on 10 carried and a score. he also caught a TD pass.

DeAndre Bowman, Pacelli, wide receiver: Despite his team losing its first game of the season to Greenville, Bowman had a strong showing by catching four passes for 138 yards and two touchdowns.

Tre Sudberry, Pacelli, quarterback: The other half of the passing tandem was Sudberry, who passed for 186 yards, including two scoring strikes to Bowman.

Dalton Sinquefield, Smiths Station, quarterback: After losing to Prattville last week, the Panthers got back on track with a 36-0 win over Valley. Sinquefield was at the center of the win, tossing three touchdown passes, one each to Austin Taylor, Tyson Toliver and Will Clanton.

Brandon Moseley, Glenwood, running back: Moseley rushed for 128 yards and two touchdowns in Glenwood's 28-17 win over Lakeside on Friday night.

Carrington Huddleston, Glenwood, quarterback: Huddleston got in on the action for Glenwood, too, passing for 109 yards and a touchdown and rushing for 107 more.

Ashton Bell, Manchester, running back: Bell carried eight times for 105 yards and two touchdowns in a 32-7 win over Mitchell County.

Ricky Williams, Kendrick, running back: Williams only carried the ball twice, but he made the second one count, scoring from 14 yards out to tie Rutland with 1:36 left in Friday night's game. He also added the two-point run to give the Cherokees the win.

Best of the rest:

Ty Lucas, Columbus, rushed for two touchdowns in the team's 21-14 win over Marion County; Jaxton Carson, Central, rushed for two touchdowns in the team's 20-10 win over Prattville; Josh Long, D'Andrez Dashiell and Frank Waldrep, Brookstone, each scored a touchdown in the team's first win of the season; Treyvon Jones, Smiths Station, returned a punt 60 yards for a touchdown in the Panthers' win; Demarcus Addie, Manchester, caught five passes for 82 yards and two touchdowns in the team's win over Mitchell County;

Cam Paulding, Shaw, caught five passes for 51 yards and two touchdowns in his team's win over Northeast-Macon; Sydarrian Cobb, Shaw, rushed 16 times for 77 yards and two touchdowns in his team's win; Kalan Watts, Northside, had 80 yards rushing and a touchdown in a loss to Upson-Lee; Cody Russell, Calvary Christian, had a 40-yard interception return for a touchdown in his team's win; Kasen Andrews, Calvary Christian, tossed two touchdown passes in his team's win;

D'Andre Snead, Jordan, returned a kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown in Jordan's loss; Lorenzo Smothers, Marion County, returned an interception 97 yards for a touchdown in his team's loss; Kendrick's offense finished with 306 yards rushing, 125 by Kayleen Bonds and 79 by William Walker; U.S. Beasley, Carver, had 98 yards receiving and 53 rushing.

David Mitchell, Follow David on Twitter@leprepsports

This story was originally published September 19, 2015 at 11:47 PM with the headline "Sunday best: Essang Bassey wins individual battle with Smothers ."