Rejoice Raider Nation, the 14-year drought is over. Jackson Academy blasted Hartfield Academy 50-14 to capture the MAIS 4A-I State Championship before a packed house at Mississippi College last Saturday. For JA, it’s the first football title since 2011 and the 10th in school history.
“Best feeling I’ve ever felt. It’s awesome. Nothing more I could ask for than to win a championship my senior year. We were determined to not lose tonight, to do whatever it takes to win. The second we were down, we decided to turn it up and knew we weren’t going to lose,” said senior safety Carter Mathison.
Head Coach David Duggan, in just his second year leading the Raiders, said this was a victory for the entire school.
“I emphasize the word team, there wasn’t a guy over here wearing a Raiders jersey that didn’t contribute to this victory. The entire student body, the cheerleaders, the Accents, the Rowdies, the coaches and administration, they are all part of this and their support has been off the charts,” said Duggan.
The Raiders started the game with an uncharacteristic fumble on their first play of the game. Hartfield cashed in on the ensuing drive with an eight-yard rushing touchdown by senior running back KD Catchings to take a 7-0 lead. The Raiders responded to tie the score with 5:16 to go in the quarter when junior running back Aaric Beasley gashed the Hawks defense for a 58-yard touchdown run.
The Raiders began to assert their dominance in the second quarter as senior quarterback Josef Walker scored on an eight-yard run to give them their first lead at 14-7 with 2:31 to go before halftime. Then came the tidal wave, as senior defensive tackle Dereon Albert came up with a huge sack on Hartfield quarterback Ethan Elliott on a third down inside the Hawks 10-yard line. On 4th down, JA’s O’mari Johnson blocked the punt of Hayden McMinn into the endzone. McMinn scrambled to retrieve the ball, but he illegally tried to kick it again and the referees awarded the Raiders a safety to make the score 16-7. The Raiders drove down the field again and Aaric Beasley scored from one yard out to take a 23-7 lead into halftime. Beasley would finish the night with 142 rushing yards and score three touchdowns.
“Big thanks to the offensive line, we’ve got some big ‘ol boys and shout out to the defense for holding them to 14 points which is unheard of in a championship game. We just kept going at them and wore them out. By the third quarter they were tired out, and we just kept on going and they couldn’t stop us. I love it here. I’m glad I get to be here for another year and hopefully win it again,” said junior running back Aaric Beasley.
The Raiders received the ball to start the third quarter and took just three plays to go 65 yards for another score. Quarterback Josef Walker found O’mari Johnson for a 19-yard completion, then Beasley ripped off a 55-yard run and Walker capped the drive with a five-yard touchdown run to blow the game open at 30-7.
Hartfield kept a glimmer of hope alive on their drive, when senior receiver Braylan Womack ran 37 yards to close the gap to 30-14 with 6:45 to play in the third quarter. That score was the last one the Raider defense would yield for the rest of the game. Womack, who will play at Auburn next year, led the team in rushing with 59 yards on four carries, but was held to just two catches for seven yards on the night.
The JA defense was unrelenting in the second half. They held the Hawks to just 149 total yards in the game, 44 passing and 104 rushing. It was a fitting way to close the season and career for three defensive stars that will be playing Division I football next year with defensive tackle Dereon Albert and linebacker TJ White headed to the University of Tennessee and defensive back/receiver O’mari Johnson going to North Carolina.
“We shut them down, by playing our game, being disciplined. We don’t fold under pressure. We battled through adversity. We trained for this every day of the week, and we got the job done. We got it done. We started from the first play and finished it all the way to the end. We played together as brothers and as a team. It feels great, to be not only a player, but a team leader and to lead this group to the first title in a decade. It just feels amazing,” said Albert.
White added, “It feels wonderful to lift that trophy, I’ve been looking for this since I came here and we finally got it.”
The Raiders would add three more touchdowns to close out the scoring. Junior running back had a 43-yard touchdown run in the third quarter to make it 37-14. Josef Walker scored on a nine yard run in the 4th to push the lead to 44-14 and Beasley closed out the scoring with a 12-yard touchdown run seal the deal with an exclamation point. Both Beasley and Walker transferred in from Clinton in the offseason with a championship goal.
“I just have to thank God, we wouldn’t be here without him. As soon as I came here I knew we had one goal and one goal only, to win a championship and we got it done. I had to get my team up, I had to be a leader and they got it done, especially the offensive line, they really got the job done for us,” said Walker. “We battled through a lot of adversity with injuries throughout the year. Especially Luke New, our starting center, who couldn’t play tonight because of injury but stayed a leader. After the week five to MRA, we took it personal and that’s what brought us here today.”
The Hawks fell short of winning their third straight championship, but Head Coach Craig Bowman had nothing but praise and appreciation for both JA and his team.
“Hats off to Coach David Duggan, he’s done a great job with a lot of stars. We weren’t sharp, we weren’t focused for whatever reason, we’ve got to play better,” said Bowman. “These seniors have won 32 games in three years. They’ve won two state championships. I told our juniors the standard is really high and they have a lot to live up to going forward. No matter the scoreboard, our culture and standard doesn’t change. We’ll take some time off then get into the offseason. We’ll show up in January and start the next process to get back here.”
