ABERDEEN — The Aberdeen High School football team posted a 39-3 win against South Pontotoc here last Friday to run the table in Class 3A, Region 2.
The Bulldogs finished the regular season at 9-2 and 5-0 in the region, and will start the second season at 7 tonight against Winona. Their goal is to make it back to the state championship game in Jackson.
“Everybody starts even this week and we have to play our best from here on out,” Aberdeen coach Mark Bray said.
Winona is the fourth seed from Region 3, but Bray said the Tigers could have finished second.
“There wasn’t a lot of difference in the second-, third- and fourth-place teams in that region,” Bray said.
Winona ripped Marks Palmer 47-14 in its regular-season finale to finish 5-6 and 2-3. The Tigers have scored 301 points (27.4) and have given up 231 (21.0).
“Winona is a good, well-coached team that doesn’t make a lot of mistakes,” Bray said. “They have gotten better and better as the season progressed.”
After posting a 4-2 non-region record against stiff competition, the Bulldogs’ only real challenge in region play came two weeks ago in a 20-13 victory against Water Valley. Aberdeen outscored Mantachie, Nettleton, Mooreville, and South Pontotoc 195-29 in the other region games.
Hamilton
n Lions go on road for first round: Fourth-seed Hamilton will face a three-and-a-half hour bus ride to Mound Bayou at 7 tonight to take on J.F. Kennedy, the Region 3 winner, in the first round of the Class 2A playoffs.
Shorthanded with 10 players sidelined with injuries, including six starters, Hamilton coach Ray Weeks is optimistic his Lions are up to the challenge.
“JFK has won seven games in a row, and they’re pretty good, but for the most part we match up with them pretty well,” Weeks said. “If we play up to our potential we could give them a run.”
Where Hamilton is at a disadvantage, though, is that the Hornets have an abundance of speed.
“We’re going to have a problem keeping up with them in that department,” Weeks said. “They’ve got four guys with speed who can catch the football, and their quarterback can run, too. It’s going to be a challenge for us.”
JFK (8-3, 5-0) features a balanced offensive attack out of the I-formation.
Hamilton (3-8, 2-3) is coming off a 42-7 loss to Ackerman.
“We went ahead 7-6 and then lost our quarterback (Seth Dement) celebrating the touchdown,” Weeks said. “Deion Howard had just scored and when they jumped up and did the chest bump Seth came down and blew his knee out.
“It seems like we’re snake-bit because that’s the way our season has pretty much gone so far.”
Dement moved into a starting role when junior Quinshay Heard was injured earlier this season, so the Lions will look to freshman Byron Butler to fill the void.
“We’re a little shorthanded at the quarterback position,” Weeks said. “With Byron having no experience at quarterback, we’ll probably put Deion in the shotgun and direct snap to him some.”
Fullback Silas Gill (knee) also is questionable.
Former Aberdeen stars key ICC’s upset against EMCC
Former Aberdeen High School standouts Brandon Smith, Rashad Pargo, and Fred Ward played key roles Saturday in the Itawamba Community College football team’s 24-23 upset against defending national champion East Mississippi C.C. in Fulton.
Smith set up ICC’s first touchdown with an interception, and Ward’s sack of quarterback Quez Johnson the final play of the game bookended a 4-yard touchdown catch by Pargo in the first quarter and a key reception to keep the game-winning drive alive in the fourth period.
Pargo’s late-game catch helped put ICC within range, and kicker Tyler Jackson split the uprights with a 43-yard field goal to seal the deal.
Former Mooreville quarterback Griff Loftis, whose father, Don, starred for Aberdeen in the late 1970s, guided the Indians on a 63-yard march to set up the kick.
Smith, who earned Mississippi Association of Community & Junior Colleges Defensive Player of the Week honors two weeks ago for his role in a 36-15 victory against Northeast Mississippi C.C., was credited with a game-high 13 tackles, 11 of which were unassisted. Three tackles were for a loss of 22 yards and he also had two sacks for a loss of 16 additional yards to go along with his interception and one pass breakup.
Ward had five total tackles, four solos and one assist. He also had two and a half sacks for 11 yards in losses and two and a half tackles for an additional 11 yards in losses.
Loftis was named the MACJC Offensive Player of the Week for his performance against the Lions. He was 24 of 37 for 323 yards and two touchdowns, while Pargo had a team-high six catches for 41 yards and one touchdown.
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