CHARLESTON Tigers getting healthy

Charleston coach Ricky May said 11 players were sidelined because of injuries by the end of a 44-0 loss to Dardanelle, but getting several healthy over the past couple weeks was key to a hard-fought 3A-1 Conference win on Friday.

Dalton Curtis caught a 13-yard touchdown pass from Brayden Ross to snap a 29-29 tie, then tackled Greenland’s quarterback at the Charleston 5 as time ran out.

“We’re pretty excited,” said May, whose team rallied from a 29-22 second-half deficit. “We needed it really bad. We’ve had a lot of kids hurt. I’ve never seen anything like it. Our whole secondary was out against Dardanelle, two knees, an ankle and a concussion. We’re excited about getting some kids back. We’re excited about where we’re at.”

Charleston (1-3, 1-0 3A-1) was bitten by the injury bug even before the first game, losing two starters to season-ending knee injuries — one in the spring and another in the summer. Junior Slade Skeets and senior Shane Turner have come up big, especially defensively, May said.

Skeets leads the team with 27 tackles, followed by Turner with 26, including 15 solos. But getting several players healthy has allowed May to finally play Turner (6-3, 215) at running back, which was the plan coming into fall practice. He finished with 71 yards on just 13 carries in the win over Greenland.

“He was starting at left tackle in the spring and then he went to National Guard training, and we moved him to guard,” May said. “We had those injuries and couldn’t move him, but we wanted to. We moved him to running back last week, and he played really well.”

The Tigers play at undefeated Cedarville on Friday.