ABERDEEN — The Aberdeen High School football team turned in a dominating performance in the opening round of the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 3A playoffs.
The Bulldogs built an early lead and cruised to a 48-12 victory against Humphreys County. Aberdeen (7-5) will now travel to Charleston (10-1) for second-round play Friday night.
“I think the kids were excited about playing a playoff game,” Aberdeen coach Mark Bray said. “We talked about coming out and getting our defense off to a good start by scoring quickly. The defense set the tone for the win once we got the early lead.”
Aberdeen scored on four six first-half possessions and built a 28-6 halftime lead.
For Aberdeen, Jerrick Orr threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Tramontay Prather. Prather followed with a 14-yard scoring run. Tyreke Gates scored on a 26-yard run in the second quarter, while Prather capped the first half scoring with a 16-yard run.
Aberdeen extended the lead in the second half on a 3-yard run by Josh Ewing, a 23-yard pass to Gates from Prather and a 55-yard run by Orr.
“Charleston has had a great season,” Bray said. “We have played some other really outstanding teams, so we are looking forward to the challenge.”
Humphreys County (3-9) received a 20-yard touchdown pass from Joshua White to Julius Lawrence and a 26-yard run by Jonathan Hauer.
n Madison-Ridgeland Academy 53, Heritage Academy 0: At Madison, the Patriots (8-4, 3-4 Mississippi Association of Independent Schools Class AAA, District 1, Division II) backed into the playoffs thanks to Starkville Academy’s 24-0 victory against Pillow Academy.
The Volunteers’ victory enabled the Patriots to finish one game ahead of the Mustangs in the district standings. Pillow Academy would have won the tiebreaker with Heritage Academy if it defeated Starkville Academy.
MRA’s 53 points were the most Heritage Academy has allowed since a 55-6 loss to North Delta on Nov. 2, 2001.
Despite the loss, Heritage Academy, the defending Class AAA, Division II state champion, will take on Lamar School at 7 p.m. Friday. A victory would send it back to Clinton to play in the MAIS state title game at Mississippi College.
Heritage Academy coach Barrett Donahoe said the coaching staff and players have to come together to find a way to get things back on track after allowing 100 points in the past two losses.
“On the exterior, you’re hurt and you don’t feel like you have done things well the last two weeks,” Donahoe said. “On the interior, you hope the guys and the people involved in the program are appreciative of all of the hard work you have done to get to this point. … I am not going to devalue what we have done because we have not performed well the last two weeks against two very good football teams.”
Donahoe credited MRA and said the Division I Patriots have a couple of future Division I college football players on their offensive front. While he didn’t want to take anything away from MRA’s performance, Donahoe hopes to see his team regroup and deliver a better showing.
“They’re really good, but we didn’t play with maximum effort,” Donahoe said. “That is something the coaching staff has to evaluate and has to ensure is not going to happen anymore. We always pride ourselves in playing with maximum effort. We didn’t (Friday) night. We have to figure out why.”
Donahoe said he will look to the team’s seniors to help reverse the program’s fortunes.
“We are four quarters away from playing for a state championship for a second year in a row,” Donahoe said. “It is just an effort issue and desire. Ultimately you have to have seniors step up and want to lead and seniors who don’t want their football season to end. That becomes the ‘X’ factor when you get into the playoffs. Any team that has that will have success. We have a monumental task ahead of us, and our seniors have a monumental task ahead of them to lead these young guys.”
n Saltillo 49, New Hope 24: At Saltillo, the Trojans scored 24 fourth-quarter points but it was not enough in the final MHSAA Class 5A, Region 1 game for both teams.
For New Hope (4-7, 2-5 Class 5A, Region 1), backup quarterback Deangelo Hamilton led three scoring drives in the fourth quarter. Hamilton threw a 29-yard pass to Lee Brandon. Bryson Ellis scored on a 12-yard run, while Jaylon Bardley scored on a 34-yard run. Brandon scored on two two-point conversion rush attempts, while Hamilton had the other.
“We came out with a deer in the headlights look,” New Hope coach Shawn Gregory said. “They didn’t realize they were in a ballgame.”
Senior quarterback Tyler Tollison threw for three touchdowns and rushed for two more to lead Saltillo (8-4, 4-3 Class 5A, Region 1). Junior Diamante Pounds rushed 29 times for 131 yards and added two scores of his own. Pounds scored on runs of 1 and 27 yards.
Tollison threw touchdowns to David Little (57 yards), A.J. Rye (25 yards) and Malik Randolph (52 yards). Tollison also scored on runs of 3 and 43 yards, as the Tigers quickly built a 35-0 halftime lead.
With the win, Saltillo clinched the fourth playoff berth from the region and will open postseason play at Callaway Friday night. New Hope did not qualify for the postseason.
n Coffeeville 34, Hamilton 0: At Coffeeville, the Lions dropped their final MHSAA Class 1A, Region 1 contest of the season. However, Hamilton finished in a two-way tie second in the region standings but will travel in the opening round of the playoffs as the region’s No. 3 seed.
Hamilton (8-3, 6-2 Class 1A, Region 1) will travel to Mound Bayou JFK (8-3, 7-1 Class 1A, Region 2) to open postseason play Friday night.
“We played good defense but we just could not get anything going offensively,” Hamilton coach Ray Weeks said. “We couldn’t put together drives and Coffeeville has a great offense. We feel behind the 8-ball early and really couldn’t catch up.”
Playing for a share of the region title, Hamilton could not get anything going against the region’s best offense. The Lions had a potential 45-yard scoring play brought back by a penalty. In the second half, Hamilton drove past midfield twice but saw both potential threats end with turnovers.
Kendaris Cauthern began the scoring for Coffeeville (8-3, 8-0 Class 1A, Region 1) with a 37-yard touchdown run. Antavius Moody (9-yard run) and Bobby Townsend (1-yard run) each added touchdowns in the second quarter as the Pirates led 20-0 at halftime.
DeNicholas Gladney added a 42-yard interception return for touchdown for Coffeeville. Cauthern also scored on a 3-yard keeper.
Hamilton was hurt by three interceptions.
“They brought everybody,” Weeks said. “We had been preparing for that all week but they simply had too much speed. Our team has been road warriors. We have been resilient all year. The team will bounce back from this.”
n Ethel 14, East Oktibbeha 6: At Crawford, the Titans dropped their final regular season game in MHSAA Class 1A, Region 3 play.
For East Oktibbeha (1-7, 1-7 Class 1A, Region 3), the lone touchdown came in the first quarter on a 27-yard run by Marquise Brooks in the first quarter. The teams were tied at 6 at halftime.
Ethel (3-8, 2-6 Class 1A, Region 3) scored in the third quarter to end the season on a two-game win streak.
East Oktibbeha rushed 50 times for 244 yards. Brooks rushed 11 times for 96 yards, while Destin Covington ran 13 times for 79 yards. A 40-yard catch by Charles Rice was the lone pass completion for East Oktibbeha quarterback John Kincaid, who was 1-of-2 in the air.
John Kincaid and Zach McCarter each had 13 total tackles. Brooks added 10 stops. Covington and McCarter each had fumble recoveries.
n Nanih Waiya 47, West Oktibbeha 6: At Maben, the Timberwolves finished a winless campaign with this MHSAA Class 1A, Region 3 defeat.
Cadarious Yates scored the lone touchdown for West Oktibbeha.
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