It only took three games but the sleeping giant has awakened.

Chantz Perkins walked off the cemented green turf at Meredith Memorial Stadium, pouring sweat and exuding pride, knowing his team had finally put all the preseason distractions behind them and corrected the mistakes that held them back the first two weeks of the season.

The Mineola Yellowjackets (1-2) notched their first win of the season Friday night against Wills Point (0-3) following a 36-3 romp of the winless Tigers.

The defense – which surrendered 72 points the first two games – allowed only a field goal on the Tigers’ opening possession and looked in midseason form despite losing junior linebacker Michael Drennon to injury. The Yellowjackets won the turnover battle for the first time this season and both Perkins and fellow senior Jeremiah Crawford eclipsed 150 yards on the ground.

“The difference in this game from the last two games is we didn’t turn the ball over,” said Head Coach Joe Drennon. “We made mistakes and got some personal fouls we got to clean up and we’ll get that taken care of this week. Bottom line is we held on to the ball and executed our offense.”

Mineola elected to receive the opening kickoff and scored on their first possession for the third straight game. Perkins, who finished the night with 21 carries for 167 yards, capped the drive with a 7-yard touchdown run – the first of two for Perkins on the evening.

Wills Point responded with a 13-play drive that stalled just outside the red-zone but managed to score on a Vincent Tobias 40-yard field goal. That would be the final time the Tigers threatened on the night.

Crawford scored on a 19-yard run following a quick five-play drive in the second quarter and the Yellowjackets found themselves leading 17-3 heading into halftime. It’s the first time Mineola led at halftime this season.

“Focus, man, focus,” Perkins said. “I think we were on the hype of Mineola ranked number one in the state and got too overwhelmed by that. I think after those two losses it really woke us up and we just focused. We’ve been practicing really hard and played Mineola football.”

Wills Point started a promising drive to kick off the second half but the Mineola defense clamped down. Senior Frankie Meason intercepted a pass to end the drive and the Yellowjackets would score on their remaining drives of the game.

Crawford connected with senior Seth Hudgins for a 27-yard touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter and scored on a 1-yard run – following a Meason fumble recovery – to finish off the Mineola scoring. Crawford finished the night 1-of-4 passing for a touchdown and one interception, he rushed 18 times for 194 yards.

The defense allowed only 71 yards to the Tigers offense in the second half and kept the opposing team out of the end zone for the first time this season.

“The past two games we haven’t had any turnovers so coming into the game we knew we had to force turnovers to win the game,” said Meason.

The Yellowjackets continue their challenging start to the season this Friday against the Brownsboro Bears (0-3), who fell last week to Bullard 35-21. Brownsboro is the fourth 4A opponent Mineola will face this season. The Yellowjackets will have a bye next week before beginning district play against their cross-county rival Quitman.