By Stan Caldwell
stanmansportsfan.com
We have come now to the end of the 2021 high school football season, and while it wasn’t as wildly, entertainingly chaotic as last season, it had plenty of great moments.
Unlike a year ago, when the Covid-19 pandemic was still raging across the country, disruptions due to Covid were minimal, a few games early in the season cancelled the extent of the damage.
This season ended with the MHSAA Gridiron Classic, the official name for the association’s state championship weekend. This year’s finals were held at Southern Miss for the third time in the past four seasons, which not the MHSAA’s original intention.
The championships were originally scheduled for Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson, but when the likelihood arose that Jackson State might be hosting the SWAC championship game the same weekend, the high schools moved the games to M.M. Roberts Stadium.
Fans from the north half of the state complained about having to drive back down to Hattiesburg again, but there really wasn’t another option.
Ole Miss was out, because the Rebels hosted Memphis in a big men’s basketball game Saturday afternoon, and Mississippi State did not bid to host the games for some unknown reason.
USM was ready, willing and able to host 12 teams for the state’s marquee high school event and did a bang-up job.
Athletic director Jeremy McClain, head coach Will Hall and, especially, Sports Information Director Jack Duggan went above and beyond to make sure everything went smoothly.
Hall was visibly excited to have the games here, not only because of the recruiting bonanza it provided, but because his beloved Amory Panthers were there in the opening game of the weekend, the Class 3A finals on Friday.
Alas, Amory had the misfortune of coming up against the GOAT among Mississippi high school football coaches, Lance Mancuso and his Jefferson Davis County Jaguars.
When you see a Mancuso-coached team show up in a state championship game, bet the house on his team winning. Friday’s 3A final was the ninth time he’s taken a team to the state finals, and he kept his record perfect when the Jags rolled the Panthers 42-10.
JDC opened its season 0-4, but that record was something of a mirage. The Jaguars opened their season with an eight-point loss to Picayune, and their other three losses were to D’Iberville, Mendenhall and Columbia.
Jeff Davis County had the Class 3A Mr. Football in senior running back Malcolm Hartzog, but the star of the show was fellow senior Demarrio Booth, who ran for 205 yards and four tuochdowns on 17 carries
Booth also had an interception on defense, as did Hartzog, who wasn’t shabby himself on offense, rushing for 130 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 13 carries.
Amory kept it reasonably close in the first half, but the Panthers were unable to respond when JDC upped its game a notch or two in the second half.
The Class 1A championship was the middle game of the three Friday games, and this one featured the acknowledged two best teams in 1A, Simmons and Bay Springs.
This game turned on a controversial play early in the fourth quarter, with Bay Springs leading 16-12, when Simmons was flagged with a block in the back call on what would have been a 30-yard touchdown run by the Blue Devils’ star, Devontae Rush.
It was the second Simmons touchdown nullified by a block in the back call. I did not see the first one, but the second was obvious to everyone in the stadium, and the sad part was it was way away from the play at the Tiger 6-yard-line.
Instead of a go-ahead score, the ball was placed on the 16-yard-line, and disaster soon ensued for the Blue Devils. On the next play, a high snap resulted in a loss of 23 yards – worse, Rush went down with an injury, and he did not return to the game.
On a third-and-32, a floating pass was intercepted, and the Tigers took the pick 90 yards in five plays, the big gainers a 51-yard run by junior Anthony Ross to get Bay Springs out of the hole, and Ross’ 34-yard run for a back-breaking touchdown.
After winning 13 games by a margin of more than 50 points, Simmons ended up on the short end of a 32-12 score in the state final. Rush had a big game for the Blue Devils, but he was more than matched by Ross, who gained 219 yards and two TDs on 20 carries.
The best game of the first day’s action was the Class 6A final between Jackson Metro rivals Madison Central and Brandon.
The Bulldogs brought what most observers said was biggest and loudest crowd of any of the six games, but they went back to Rankin County disappointed as the Jaguars won 24-17.
Tight end Jake Norris was pressed into service at quarterback when starter Vic Sutton was injured in the second-round win over Oxford, and the junior delivered for Madison Central.
Norris ran for 55 yards on 11 carries and completed 5 of 9 passes for124 yards and a touchdown. It was Norris’ 2-yard run to the corner of the end zone provided the Jaguars with the winning touchdown.
Norris was ably abetted by junior De’andre Pullen, who ran for 132 yards on 25 carries, and junior Isaiah Spencer, who caught four passes for 95 yards and a touchdown.
Junior running back Jarvis Durr and sophomore quarterback Landon Varnes had fine games for Brandon, which played without star tailback Noah Ingram. Durr ran 37 times for 116 yards and a touchdown, and Varnes completed 16 of 27 passes for 292 yards.
If you will notice, I did not say the word senior regarding any of the previously mentioned players, which does not bode well for opponents of the Jaguars and Bulldogs in 2022.
Saturday’s play started with the best –or least the most competitive game of the weekend – the Class 4A final between Columbia and Senatobia.
The Wildcats were a heavy favorite coming into the game, but the Warriors proved every bit the match for Columbia.
The Wildcats took the opening kickoff on a methodical scoring march, using 13 plays and eating up 6:52 off the game clock.
The Warriors came right back with the first of three first half touchdown drives that all ended in scoring passes to senior wide receiver Hunter Mabry, who only had 11 catches and two TDs before Saturday.
Nevertheless, Mabry was being fitted for MVP honors at halftime, not only due to his three scores, but he also had an interception and a 21-yard pass on a fake punt to convert a key fourth down en route to the Warriors’ third touchdown.
The game turned, though, late in the third quarter, when Senatobia was driving inside the Columbia 30 for a touchdown that would have put the Warriors ahead by two scores.
On third-and-10, Columbia senior linebacker Will McLendon jarred the ball loose from the arms of Senatobia’s Jordan Osborn and senior safety Kentrell Jackson picked up the loose ball and rambled 81 yards for a defensive touchdown.
After the Warriors jumped offside on the PAT kick attempt, Columbia coach Chip Bilderback decided to go for a two-point conversion and ran senior workhorse Omar Johnson behind star defensive tackle Jehiem Oatis out of the jumbo package for a 22-21 lead.
Senatobia fans cried foul, and they had a pretty good case, as video seemed to show that Osborn’s knee was down before the ball was stripped away. For good measure, the officials also appeared to miss a block in the back on a push by one of the blockers in front of Jackson.
Nevertheless, the play stood, and so did the lead, though not before the Warriors missed on a 20-yard field goal that would have won the game in the final seconds.
Credit the Wildcats for standing tall on defense when their offense wasn’t getting much done in the fourth quarter. Senatobia started three of its last four drives in Columbia territory and got zero points out of them.
After the sublime came the ridiculous, one of the most one-sided contests in state championship history, the Class 2A final between undefeated Scott Central and Leflore County, the only one of the 12 teams making its debut in the title game.
The Tigers were game for about a quarter and a half, before the Rebels asserted themselves.
Scott Central junior quarterback Quez Goss threw his third and fourth touchdown passes of the game in the final four minutes of the first half, then the Rebels returned the opening kickoff of the third quarter for a touchdown and the rout was on.
The Rebels ended with a winning score of 72-24 and broke two records that had been held by Bassfield in the Yellowjackets’ 60-35 win over Calhoun City in the 2014 Class 2A final.
Scott Central’s 72 points was a new record, and the combined 96 points was also a new record. Moreover, the 48-point margin of victory tied Smithville’s 56-8 1A win over Pelahatchie in 1998 for second-most all-time. Only Magee’s 49-0 win over Kosciusko in 1984 was larger.
Goss finished with 17 completions in 24 attempts for 350 yards and six touchdown passes, plus he ran 22 times for 103 yards and two more scores.
Last, but certainly not least, came the most anticipated game of them all, the Class 5A championship game between Picayune and West Point. This was a rematch of the game won two years ago on the same field by the Green Wave.
This time, though, it was the Maroon Tide that prevailed, 40-21. They did it with their trademark crunching ground attack that netted 393 yards.
Junior Dante Dowdell was the leading rusher for Picayune with 148 yards on 25 carries and two touchdowns, sophomore Chris Davis had 139 yards on 8 carries and junior Darnell Smith had 88 yards on 10 carries.
The good news for Maroon Tide fans: all three of those guys are back next year.
Smith’s 59-yard burst up the middle in the third quarter put Picayune ahead for good, after West Point had taken a 21-20 lead with the opening drive of the second half.
After getting a defensive stop, Dowdell got the Maroon Tide out a second-and-18 hole from their own 12 with a 49-yard run and it was Dowdell who capped the 12-play drive that erased more than six minutes off the clock.
It was at that point that the Green Wave lost some of their composure. On the ensuing kickoff a personal foul penalty resulted in a player’s ejection, then a sideline interference call cost them 14 yards.
West Point got out of that hole with a couple of first downs, then the Green Wave tried a trick play, some kind of double reverse that was poorly executed. The ball was bobbled, and sophomore Javonta Waller scooped up the loose ball and ran 35 yards for a touchdown.
For a team with the championship pedigree of West Point – 11 state titles and six straight 5A finals appearances – seeing them lose their cool like that was a little jarring. But sometimes even the best of teams gets rattled when things start going against them.
And the end of the game saw one of the great moments of the weekend, a gleeful embrace between Picayune coach Cody Stogner and former longtime Maroon Tide coach Dodd Lee, whose last game as coach was that bitter loss to West Point two years ago.
As a sidenote, the elephant in the room was the specter of Greenville Christian, the so-called Delta super-team that was the consensus No. 1 team in the state after the regular season.
The debate about whether the Saints were really the state’s best team has been spirited, to say the least.
GCS has hung its resume on three impressive victories in August and September, blowout wins over Madison-Ridgeland and Jackson Prep, and a seven-point triumph at Oak Grove, not to mention a narrow loss to Collins Hill, a top-rated Georgia powerhouse.
But that was then, this is now, and the general opinion in the press box this weekend was that the Saints would want no part of Madison Central, and, in my opinion, neither would they want any of Picayune.
The belief is that Jaguars had the defense that could make life difficult for GCS, and the Saints would be hard-pressed to slow down the Maroon Tide’s power running game.
Mississippi Gridiron, one of the leading high school sports website, seems to agree, putting Madison Central No. 1 overall in its final rankings this week.
Greenville Christian’s partisans would heartily disagree, but most of them weren’t at The Rock this weekend to see the kind of championship football that the best of the MHSAA has to offer.
The argument will keep social media burning up for a while, however, and anything that keeps discussion on high school football works for me.
Now, it’s on to basketball and soccer, with baseball and softball looming not long after the new year arrives. And it won’t be that long before we start zeroing in on another high school football season. Speaking for myself, I can’t wait.
Before I finish, though, I want to gratefully acknowledge the contributions of Jesse Johnson, along with Pat Causey and Mark Magee, who provided these stories with quality professional photography. They were happy to offer their work with the only compensation a credit line.
I salute them and look forward to working with them throughout the rest of the school year and into the next football season.
Stan Caldwell is a veteran sportswriter with more than 35 years in the Hattiesburg area.
Photos courtesy of Jesse Johnson
Great job reporting on the games this past weekend