Tyrese Solomon had his Slick Shelley game face on Friday night.

He ran like him, too.

Solomon caught two long touchdown passes in the final six minutes of the first half to help the Mavs coast to a 50-17 nonconference victory at Rowland Stadium.

Solomon’s 86-yard catch and run with 30 seconds left in the first half proved to be a back-breaker.

“I feel like that brought us more confidence as a team,” Solomon said. “This team can do a lot of good things, we just have to have the confidence.”

Shelley was inducted into Southside’s Hall of Fame, along with former Maverick standouts Rickey Loyd and Jerry Reith prior to the game

“They (players) got to go meet Slick right before the game right before warmups,” Southside coach Jeff Williams said. “That was a great moment for those guys.”

Solomon finished with eight catches for 157 yards — accounting for nearly 33 percent of Southside’s 477 total yards of offense.

Solomon, who’d already turned a quick-hitter into a 43-yard touchdown reception earlier in the second quarter, made two players miss as he sprinted 86 yards for the longest touchdown pass play by a Southside quarterback since Josh Driscoll’s 90-yard touchdown pass in the 2000 state title game against Cabot.

Quarterback Taye Gatewood finished with 254 yards passing and three touchdowns, all to Solomon. He also rushed for 33 yards and a touchdown.

“We were wanting to score right before the half so we would have a three-touchdown lead,” Gatewood said. “We wanted to come out and give them (Hall of Famers) a show and keep the Maverick tradition going.”

Southside (1-2) drove 58 yards in 13 plays on its first series of the game, with Gatewood doing the honors with a 2-yard run.

Heritage’s Wilmer Arrue booted a 28-yard field goal on the War Eagles’ first possession, and quarterback Trey Kitterman threw a 61-yard touchdown pass to Zach Gall to account for the War Eagles’ first half scoring.

Not to be outdone, Southside senior Brenden Ulrich ran for 100 yards on the button, and his 4-yard TD run on the Mavs’ second possession extended the lead to 14-3.

Gatewood’s 43-yard touchdown pass to Solomon, followed by his 2-point conversion pass to Garret Kuhl, gave the Mavericks a 22-10 lead, setting the stage for Solomon’s 86-yard touchdown play.

Solomon caught an 8-yard TD in the third quarter, and Ricardo Savoy, who ran for 89 yards, added a 1-yard touchdown run.

Trystan Johnson’s 2-yard run with three minutes left accounted for Southside’s final points.

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Southside 50

Heritage 17

Summary — Southside quarterback Taye Gatewood threw three touchdown passes and ran for another as Southside — scoring on all four of its first half possessions — rolled past Heritage, 50-17, at Rowland Stadium.
