OLIVE BRANCH — The West Point High School football team finished an undefeated run through Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) Class 5A, Region 1 play Friday night with a 53-17 victory against Lewisburg.
West Point (10-1, 7-0 region) will enter the postseason on a nine-game winning streak after winning its first region championship since 2012. The playoffs will begin Friday night when Region 2 fourth seed Holmes County Central (5-6) comes to Hamblin Stadium.
“It’s good to win all the region games because we haven’t done that in a while around here,” West Point coach Chris Chambless said. “We have a lot of momentum, and hopefully we can keep that up. Kids have been working hard in practice, and that has been showing up on game nights.”
West Point finished with 450 yards of offense, including 362 yards rushing. After leading 13-7 after one quarter, the Green Wave used a 26-0 second quarter to build a 39-7 halftime lead.
Marcus Murphy led the ground attack with 175 yards, including touchdowns runs of 16 and 12 yards and a 1-yard run. Andre Lane also had a 29-yard touchdown run.
Clayton Knight threw 25- and 16-yard touchdown passes to Demarrio Edwards.
In the second half, Nate Montgomery added a 3-yard touchdown run and Jaylun Eggerson added a 19-yard touchdown run.
“Everybody is excited to get started in the playoffs,” Chambless said. “We just have to keep improving to have a chance.”
n Adams County Christian 35, Starkville Academy 7: At Natchez, the season ended for Chase Nicholson’s Volunteers in the second round of the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools (MAIS) Class AAA playoffs.
“Adams County has some really great athletes,” Nicholson said. “They have lot of speed and we struggled to contain that. We had a couple of chances to scores in the first half and couldn’t convert. That really hurt us in relation to getting back into the game.”
Starkville Academy (8-4) was held to 172 yards of offense. More than half of those came on a 90-yard touchdown run by Dalton Dempsey.
Adams County Christian (10-2) scored on three of its first four possessions to build a 21-0 lead after one quarter. The Rebels led 35-0 at halftime.
“I am really proud of this team for what all they accomplished,” Nicholson said. “We were young in some spots, so the players had to really grow and mature during the season. We have a lot of sophomores and juniors, and they will benefit from this experience.”
Nason Heflin had an interception on defense for the Volunteers.
n Vardaman 35, Hamilton 6: At Vardaman, the Lions lost their regular-season finale in MHSAA Class 1A, Region 1 play.
Branson Shields scored on a 21-yard run for Hamilton (2-8, 2-5 region).
Trae Owen passed for three touchdowns and ran for another to lead the Rams (7-2, 5-2). Brandon Washington caught two scores, while running for another. Patrick Pratt ran for a touchdown, while Deon Jones had a receiving touchdown.
Vardaman will play Friday night at Ray Brooks (3-5) in the first round of the Class 1A playoffs.
n Velma Jackson 54, Aberdeen 22: At Camden, the Bulldogs lost in the opening round of the MHSAA Class 3A playoffs to finish the season 3-9.
For Aberdeen, Fred Fields ran for two touchdowns and passed to Isiah McMIllian for another score.
Velma Jackson (10-1) will play Friday night at North Panola (10-2) in the second round.
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