Regular season records don’t matter now, it’s time for the playoffs. Championship dreams abound for all who made it, but with an unforgiving reality each week: win and advance, lose and your season ends.
In the MHSAA ranks, Classes 1A-4A all start the postseason this week. St. Andrew’s Episcopal School is facing off against Bogue Chitto on the road in the first round. The Saints finished as third seed in Class 2A Region 6 with a 2-2 record, 5-5 overall. They meet the Bobcats who are the second seed from Region 7 with a 5-4 overall mark. First year Head Coach Channing Ward leads his team into the playoffs after closing the regular season with two straight losses. Bogue Chitto will pose a huge challenge as the Cats sport a balanced run-pass attack. The Saints are looking for their first post-season win since 2007.
Over in the MAIS, Both Jackson Prep and Madison-Ridgeland Academy earned first round byes in Class 6A. Prep is the top seed after finishing the regular season with an undefeated record of 5-0 in district and 10-0 overall. MRA is the two seed after going 4-1 in the district and 9-2 overall. Here’s a look at how the seeding and bracket shakes out:
(1) Jackson Prep-bye
(2) MRA-bye
(3) Hartfield Academy vs. (6) Madison St. Joseph Catholic
(4) Jackson Academy vs. (5) Presbyterian Christian
Madison St. Joseph at Hartfield
Hartfield, the defending state champions, will host Madison St. Joseph Catholic on Friday night with the winner advancing to take on MRA. The Bruins are the sixth seed in the district and have struggled this year to a 2-7 overall record. The Hawks are the third seed at 3-2 and 9-2 overall and have scored the most total points with 565, an average of 51 a game. In their first meeting two weeks ago, the Hawks blasted the Bruins 62-20 with a tenacious running run game as the Hawks rolled up 222 yards on just 24 carries and scored six touchdowns. Sophomore Ethan Elliott had 12 carries for 117 yards and found the endzone six times. Hartfield Head Coach Craig Bowman held back his stars in running back/wide receiver Kenzy West, wide receiver Bralan Womack, running back Kaden Catchings and quarterback Cayman Tapper.
The Bruins will need every defender to be on the prowl this week in juniors Taylor Moffett, Steele Davis, Zycameron Williams, Reid Hager and freshmen AJ Harris and Brooks Davidson.
St. Joseph found some success as junior quarterback Drew Wamble threw for 126 yards and two touchdowns. Wamble’s main target was freshman AJ Harris who caught three passes for 61 yards and a touchdown. It was tough sledding for the running backs as senior Gavin Brice had seven carries for 44 yards and sophomore Syrone McBeath had seven touches for 23 yards. This overall young group will have to find ways to sustain more drives in hopes of an upset this week.
The Raiders start the postseason tournament as the fourth seed after an 8-3 overall record under first year Head Coach David Duggan. They will host the fifth seeded Presbyterian Christian Bobcats in The Brickyard. These two teams met two weeks ago on October 25 with JA shutting out the Cats 38-0 down in Hattiesburg.
Everything the Raiders did that night turned to gold. Senior running back Omarean “Man-Man” Ellis rumbled for 175 yards on 20 carries and scored two touchdowns. Sophomores Kingston Mays and Ashton Blackmon combined for 17 carries and 79 yards to give JA a total of 258 yards on the ground.
“We’re built to be physical with a run-pass complementary football approach to our offense, but we will also take what the defense is giving us,” said Jackson Academy Head Coach David Duggan. “We had great play from our guys up front that just opened huge holes. Then to watch Man-Man make the right read, put his foot in the ground and take off through those holes is something special to watch. When we get the running game going, we are hard to beat.”
Sophomore quarterback Pruett James was extremely efficient in the first match-up, completing 62 percent of his passes for 182 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. Pruett’s favorite target all year shined once again in John Thomas. The senior had three catches for 82 yards, a 27-yard average, and a touchdown.
Defensively, the Raiders were smothering as they held the Bobcats to just 33 yards rushing. Sophomore quarterback Smith Stringer had a rough night as he was sacked six times and threw three interceptions. Junior defensive linemen Dereon Albert and TJ White had a quarterback feast. Albert recorded three sacks, eight total tackles with four for a loss. White picked up two sacks and led the team with 10 total tackles. The immense pressure on Stringer led to the three picks, with seniors Foster Meacham, Josh Dockins and junior Baird Kennedy each hauling one in.
“Our defensive front is playing really well. When you have a front four like we do that can dominate the line of scrimmage, it’s just impressive. TJ white had a really good game and he just keeps getting better and better,” said Coach Duggan. “He (TJ) had two hits on the quarterback that I said wow, there’s no way he’s getting up from those. Fortunately, he did and wasn’t seriously hurt. Their quarterback is as tough as they come. Stringer is 6’5 and throws the deep ball very well. We responded well as a defense after he connected on some deep balls to keep them out of the endzone. We have to do it again Friday night.”
After such a dominating performance over PCS, Raider Nation might be looking ahead to the next round meeting with rival Jackson Prep. Coach Duggan and his staff are doing there best to keep the players eyes on the prize of focusing and winning this week.
“Our message is to concentrate on every game not matter who you are playing. We’ve had good, hard practices this week,” said Duggan. “The focus is on continuing to get better each and every day and to focus on building this program. If we do the little things like stopping the run, winning the turnover battle and not having tackles for loss on offense, we will have a great chance of winning every game.”
It is the playoff season, where if teams don’t take of things today, there is no tomorrow. Every snap, every penalty, every sack and every score just means more right now. Everybody has the champagne dreams and caviar wishes to win a state championship. Game on.
ST. ANDREW'S
AT A GLANCE
Class/Division: Class: 2A. Region 6 (MHSAA)
Head Coach: Channing Ward
Assistant Coaches: Dan Roach. Jonnas Spivey, Terrance Nelson, Dewayne Cupples (AD)
2024 Record: 5-5 overall
JA AT A GLANCE
Class/Division: Class: 6A. District 1 (MAIS)
Head Coach: David Duggan (first year)
Assistant Coaches: Chase Alkire, Case Cook, Shay Hodge, Malcolm Rollins, Michael Turner.
Record: 8-3 overall
ST. JOE
AT A GLANCE
Class/Division: Class 6A, District 1 (MAIS)
Head Coach: Jason Moore
Assistant Coaches: David Streit, Paul Mooney, Reed Collins, Steve Pruett
2024 Record: 2-7 overall
