OKOLONA – Sure, Friday night’s pouring rains and occasional gusty winds made for awful football weather – but the conditions were perfect for Love.

On a dreary, sloppy night, Aberdeen senior running back Jamerson Love found himself unaffected by the soggy field, amassing 181 total yards and five TDs in Aberdeen’s convincing 43-0 win over Okolona.

“I don’t know what it is, but I love playing in the rain,” Aberdeen’s senior tailback said. “Usually that means the coaches will depend on me and put the ball in my hands because it’s hard to throw the ball. When that happens, I just try to do my job.”

Love did his job exceedingly well against Okolona, piling up four rushing touchdowns and one through the air, a 40-yard connection from senior QB Aaron Andrews that gave Aberdeen a 6-0 lead with just 19 seconds left in the first quarter. Brandon Smith’s two-point conversion run pushed the lead to 8-0.

Love added a pair of scoring runs in the second quarter, sprinting in from 5 and 7 yards away to give the visiting Bulldogs a 24-0 halftime lead. Andrews added two-point conversion passes to Jalen Devauld and Erik Buchanan.

Love “is a gamebreaker. When he’s out there, we’ve always got a chance to score,” said Aberdeen coach Chris Duncan, who watched his Bulldogs improve to 3-2 on the year. “We were sluggish at times tonight, but we got back on track there in the second half.”

For Okolona, the Daily Journal’s No. 5 small school, Class 3A power Aberdeen proved to be as good as advertised.

“We knew that was a good team coming in and I thought we played well defensively,” first-year Okolona coach Calvin Aldridge said, “but you can only hold that group down for so long.”

After a scoreless third quarter, Aberdeen was able to salt the game away with three late scores. Love completed his big night with two fourth-quarter TDs, running in from 55 and 3 yards out. Rashad Pargo added the PAT on Love’s final score, giving Aberdeen a 37-0 lead.

On the night, Love rushed 18 times for 114 yards and caught two passes for 67 yards.

Tailback Michael Hodges added a 40-yard TD run to round out the Bulldogs’ scoring.

Aberdeen’s defense did not allow a touchdown for the second straight week, limiting Okolona to 158 yards and forcing two turnovers. Sophomore QB Zach Brooks completed four passes for 62 yards to lead the Chieftains.

“Defensively, I thought we looked good against the run,” Duncan said. “We were able to take away that part of their game.”

For his part, Aldridge was proud of his team’s effort against the Journal’s No. 2 team in Class 3A.

“Our kids played hard. There’s a lot we can gain from this if we look at it that way,” Aldridge said. “We just have to come back next week and try to bounce back.”