CLINTON, La. — The Heritage Academy football team saw its season end Friday night with a 43-7 loss to Silliman Institute in the opening-round of the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools Class AAA playoffs.
“We were really pleased to make the playoffs this season,” Heritage Academy coach Barrett Donahoe said last week after his team defeated Leake Academy. “We had an up-and-down season, but we were able to put a complete game together to get in the playoffs.
“Going forward, you want to be in a position to make the playoffs each year. It was good to work hard and find a way to get in.”
Heritage Academy (5-6) finished second in the Class AAA, District 2 standings.
Michael Ledbetter’s 10-yard run was Heritage Academy’s only touchdown.
n Tri-County Academy 42, Oak Hill Academy 14: At Flora, the Raiders saw their season end in the opening-round of the MAIS Class A/AA playoffs.
Oak Hill Academy (7-4) couldn’t overcome four interceptions. The Raiders also allowed a pair of punt returns for touchdowns.
“The kids fought hard to make the playoffs,” Oak Hill Academy first-year coach Chris Craven said. “We had some injuries and other things to overcome. However, they kept battling and really put together a great season. In this game, we just had too many turnovers. It is hard to win a playoff game on the road when you have turnovers.”
Kaleb Darnell scored on a 7-yard run and later hit Macon McBrayer with a 7-yard touchdown pass for the Raiders.
n Noxubee County 35, Houston 10: At Houston, the Tigers built a 35-0 lead to finish an undefeated run through Class 4A, Region 4 play.
Noxubee County (7-4, 5-0 region) will play host to Amory (5-6, 3-2 Class 4A, Region 1) on Friday night to open the Class 4A North State playoffs.
“It was good to go through the region undefeated,” Noxubee County coach Tyrone Shorter said. “I believe that is 21 straight, so that is quite the accomplishment. Really proud of the kids from battling back from the adversity earlier in the season. We are finally healthy, and that’s the biggest reason for our success.”
Senior Deveon Ball was a one-man wrecking crew for Noxubee County. Ball had a 95-yard interception return for touchdown and a 95-yard fumble return for touchdown. He also caught two of Timorrius Conner’s three touchdowns passes from 8 and 40 yards.
“(Ball) had one heck of a game,” Shorter said. “He pretty much dominated a stretch of the play there. I am glad he was on our side.”
Conner also hit Ladaveon Smith on a 35-yard scoring play to complete his team’s scoring.
n Caledonia 35, Leake Central 28: At Caledonia, the Confederates celebrated Senior Night by winning the final game of their season.
Michael Taylor had an 80-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter to lift the Confederates. Jamel Thomas also had an 85-yard kickoff return for touchdown. Spencer Unruh had three rushing touchdowns for Caledonia.
n Smithville 69, Hamilton 0: At Smithville, the Seminoles clinched the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 1A, Region 1 title with the victory.
Smithville (10-1, 7-0 region) will host the fourth-place team from Region 2 when the Class 1A North State playoffs begin Nov. 16.
Hamilton (1-9, 1-6) will end the season by playing host to Vardaman Friday night.
“We’ll have a chance to finish on a good note against Vardaman next week,” Hamilton coach Josh Baty said. “It should be a good game.”
Dustin Moffett and Dee Moore each scored three first-half touchdowns to help build a 56-0 halftime lead. Nate Ward and Moore each finished with 106 rushing yards. Moffett capped the scoring with a pass interception return for touchdown.
n Kemper Academy 48, Hebron Christian 20: At DeKalb, the Eagles dropped this road matchup for first place in MAIS Eight-Man District 2 play.
Hebron Christian (7-3) will open the Eight-Man playoffs Friday night at Marvell Academy (10-0). Marvell Academy won a regular-season meeting between the teams, 46-16.
Kemper Academy (10-0) built a 20-6 halftime lead and held on in the second half.
“We were within 28-20 there late and couldn’t pull it off,” Hebron Christian coach David Foster said. “It was a hard-fought game. They had more speed and more players than we did. We dropped too many passes, but we also did a lot of things well on offense.”
For Hebron Christian, Landon Hill scored on touchdown runs of 2 and 4 yards. Trailing 28-12, the Eagles scored on an 84-yard touchdown pass from Hill to Clay Faulkner on a fake punt. Hill also scored on a two-point conversion run.
Channing Tapley was 17 of 34 for 292 yards. Hill had 16 rushes for 75 yards and five receptions for 83 yards, with a 26-yard kickoff return. Faulkner had six catches for 115 yards. Payton Griffin had six receptions for 146 yards.
“We played well, but we had some breakdowns,” Foster said. “You can’t do that against a great team. We are glad to be back in the playoffs, but we have a difficult assignment in front of us.”
Hill had 11 tackles and an interception. Brian Eaddy had seven tackles, while Tapley had five. Jessie Moore and Emerson Shinn each had a fumble recovery.
Kemper Academy had two pick-sixes late to put the contest away.
n Central Academy 50, Strider Academy 30: At Macon, Coach Michael Dawkins, who had his hair dyed blond after the game, said the Vikings (3-6) saved their best game of the season for their finale in a hard-hitting MAIS Eight-Man game.
Central Academy had 467 yards of offense, including 196 through the air and 61 rushing by quarterback Jerry Long. Long rushed for four scores and threw for two.
Nelson Robbins rushed for 110 yards. He also had a receiving touchdown. Robbins played with a cast after he suffered a broken thumb and wrist, according to Dawkins.
Wyatt Norris added 98 receiving yards and a touchdown. Dylan Manning had 82 receiving yards and three tackles.
William Dawkins rushed for 80 yards and a touchdown. He also had six tackles and an interception he returned 21 yards. Jack Vandevender rushed for 5 yards and had a tackle.
Joel Riddell had 10 tackles and two assisted tackles. Preston Dawkins had four tackles. Coby Weston had two.
West Alabama
n Pickens Academy 54, Sumter Academy 10: At Carrollton, Alabama, the Pirates (5-5) had six players rush for touchdowns on a night the team rushed for 367 yards and seven scores in their regular-season finale.
Pickens Academy will play at Springwood Academy on Friday in the first round of the Alabama Independent School Association Class AA playoffs.
Chance Britt had 13 carries for 84 yards and a touchdown, Ryan Harcrow had three carries for 78 yards and two touchdowns, Brant Criswell had four carries for 62 yards, John Wesley Rye had nine carries for 54 yards and a touchdown, Landon Hattaway had one carry for 43 yards and a touchdown, Daniel Powell had two carries for 25 yards and a touchdown, Riley Harcrow had two carries for 11 yards and a touchdown, Lee Acker had two carries for 6 yards, and Clark Noland had one carry for 4 yards.
Criswell was 2 of 3 for 42 yards and a touchdown. Lee Acker caught a 12-yard touchdown. Will Jones had one catch for 30 yards.
Riley Harcrow had a team-high eight tackles, while Daniel Powell had seven and Jeff White and JB Seymer had four.
n Sulligent 41, South Lamar 34: At Millport, Alabama, Caleb Williams had 14 carries for 157 yards, including the go-ahead score on a 66-yard touchdown run with eight minutes remaining to lift the Blue Devils (7-3) to their sixth-straight victory Thursday.
In all, Sulligent had 29 carries for 255 yards and three touchdowns. Quarterback CJ McLemore was 4 of 6 for 106 yards and two touchdowns.
Tyreke Metcalf had five carries for 67 yards and two touchdowns, while Cordarius Metcalf had eight carries for 24 yards.
Duston Summerville had three catches for 85 yards and a touchdown, and Hayden Nolen’s one catch went for a 21-yard touchdown on fourth-and-10.
South Lamar (6-4) had 47 carries for 273 yards. It added 97 passing yards.
Sulligent will play host to Cold Springs (6-4) on Friday in the first round of the Alabama High School Athletic Association Class 2A playoffs, while South Lamar will play host to Phillips in the first round of the AHSAA Class 1A playoffs.
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