CARTHAGE — The New Hope High School football team qualified for the Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) Class 4A playoffs Friday night with a 27-6 victory against Leake Central.
New Hope (5-4, 1-2 region) will step outside of region play Friday to face Jackson Prep at home before finishing the regular season with a region home game against Noxubee County.
“We had some guys back from injury and that really helped,” New Hope coach Kris Pickle said. “Ryan Burt has done a great job at quarterback, but it was great to have Kyree Fields. He is a senior leader, and you can’t replace the leadership he provides.
“This was the first time all season we had Kyree and Tyran (Reed) in the backfield together. Those are our main two guys on offense.”
Fields scored on two 2-yard runs and threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Jaylen Mays. James Taylor added an interception return for a touchdown for the Trojans.
Fields was 15-for-21 for 151 yards. He had 19 carries for 153 yards. Mays had seven catches for 99 yards, while Jeremy Tate had five catches for 48 yards.
“There was lot of excitement after the game (for clinching the playoff berth),” Pickle said. “We haven’t had that in a while around here, so it was really good to see the kids have that feeling. I told them after the game it doesn’t matter if you get in as the one seed or four seed because everybody goes back to 0-0 when the playoffs start. I coached a four seed that played for North Half one year.
“We are getting back healthy, and this the right time of year to do that. I think (clinching the playoff berth) will really lead over to a great week of practice. The kids will be motivated for the next couple of games so hopefully, we can keep getting better.”
New Hope will play a first-round playoff game on the road on Nov. 3.
n Noxubee County 49, Kosciusko 27: At Kosciusko, the Tigers clinched a Class 4A playoff berth and moved within a win of clinching another MHSAA Class 4A, Region 4 championship.
“It was a good game,” Noxubee County coach Tyrone Shorter said. “Kosciusko has a good football team. They had won two region games. We told our players not to judge them by their overall record because we wouldn’t want to be judged by ours. I thought we really competed hard for four quarters, really battled, and had to do that.
“It was a tight game for three quarters (Noxubee County led 26-20 after three quarters), and we really stretched it out there at the end.”
Armoni Clark threw two touchdowns to Kyziah Pruitt and another to Rashad Eades. Clark also scored on a quarterback keep. Jaqualyn Smith rushed for three touchdowns.
“Armoni is playing well,” Shorter said. “He is making good reads and getting a lot of receivers involved. We knew we had a good group of receivers. We have size and speed there. The last couple of weeks we are beginning to see the type of offense we hoped we would be this year.
“We are seeing some balance and doing a much better job of protecting the ball.”
On defense, the challenge was to slow down Kosciusko’s triple-option.
“We are giving up too many big plays on defense,” Shorter said. “That has gone on for most of the season. We have some players out (due to injury) on defense and we had to play some new guys. Hopefully, as we get everybody back and ready to go, we will give up fewer big plays in the playoffs.
“I really like how some of the young guys stepped up. When we had to have plays made in the second half, they were made.”
Noxubee County (4-4, 2-0) can wrap up the top spot from the region with a home victory against Leake Central (4-4, 0-2) on Friday night.
n Pontotoc 30, Caledonia 6: At Pontotoc, the Confederates dropped another tough decision on the road in MHSAA Class 4A, Region 2 play.
Caledonia (0-8, 0-3) will have to beat Amory (2-7, 0-3) on the road and Itawamba AHS at home the following week to have playoff consideration.
Pontotoc (8-1, 3-0) continued to pace the region, thanks in large part to two receiving touchdowns by Caleb Hobson. Hobson caught a 42-yard pass from London Jordan and 43-yard pass from Justin Carter. Gabe Harmon added a 28-yard touchdown run and Jermarkus Whitfield scored on a 54-yard run.
For Caledonia, Wes Rollins kicked field goals of 24 and 36 yards.
Rollins’ first kick gave the Confederates a 3-0 lead. Pontotoc scored three touchdowns in the second quarter to take a 27-3 halftime lead.
n Victory Christian Academy 53, Tuscaloosa Christian Academy 6: At Columbus, Kenny Collier had four touchdowns to help the Eagles (5-3) close the regular season with a victory against their Christian Football Association (CFA) rival.
Collier scored on an 85-yard punt return, a 35-yard blocked punt (Cole Bond blocked it), and runs of 24 and 35 yards.
Preston Kinard had an 11-yard touchdown run, Dakota Bradford had a 55-yard touchdown reception, Gavin Forrester had a 51-yard touchdown run, and Brandon Moore had a 2-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown.
Kinard had one two-point conversion, and Moore had three extra points.
Garrett Anthony and Bradford led the way with nine tackles.
n Hamilton 34, Sebastopol 21: At Hamilton, the Lions remain in good shape for one of four playoff berths from MHSAA Class 1A, Region 3 with a win at home.
Hamilton (4-4, 3-2) enters the final three weeks of play tied for the fourth and final playoff spot in the region. The Lions still have a chance to finish as high as second in the final standings.
Sebastopol led 14-6 at halftime.
For Hamilton, Bryant Butler threw four touchdown passes. Butler hit Kaminski Bankhead three times (57 yards, 65, and 78), as well as Bryson Butler (45 yards). Ty Hall also scored on a 47-yard run.
Hamilton will play host to French Camp Academy (5-3, 4-1) in another region game Friday night.
n Oak Hill Academy 14, West Memphis Christian 13: At West Point, the Raiders prepared for this week’s huge showdown against Marshall Academy by taking this Mississippi Association of Independent Schools (MAIS) win at home.
Oak Hill Academy (6-2, 2-1 MAIS Class AA, District 1) will play at Marshall Academy (7-1, 3-0) Friday night with the district title on the line.
“It was a hard-fought game,” Oak Hill Academy coach Chris Craven said. “Proud of the guys giving maximum effort for four quarters. We have played a lot of tight games like that this season. You have to play hard and stay focused the whole way. We were able to do that.”
For the Raiders, John Carver Middleton threw a 38-yard touchdown pass to Dylan Scott. He added a 48-yard rushing score. Grayson Easterling hit three touchbacks and both extra points.
The teams were scoreless at the half and tied 7-7 after three quarters.
Oak Hill Academy built a 14-7 lead before West Memphis scored with a minute left in regulation. A two-point conversion attempt failed.
West Memphis recovered an onside kick and one more defensive stop was needed to seal the win.
“Defense came up huge in the second half,” Craven said. “The stop on the two-point play was big. Then the stop after the onside kick was big. Just really made some great plays on defense to keep them out of the end zone.”
Jaden Craven led the defense with 17 tackles, including 13 solo stops.
n Aberdeen 38, Hatley 28: At Hatley, the Bulldogs moved within a win of clinching a playoff berth with this MHSAA Class 3A, Region 4 win in the final road game of the regular season.
Junior Fred Fields with 18 carries for 147 yards and three touchdowns. He was 4-for-9 for 139 yards and another score. The passing touchdown was a 70-yard scoring strike to Marquiz Doss.
It was an all-around big night for Doss, who also had a 65-yard kickoff return touchdown. Jacoby Carruth added a safety on defense.
Aberdeen (5-4, 2-1) will play host to Houston (5-3, 2-1) on Friday night in region play. A win there or the following week against South Pontotoc would put the Bulldogs in the playoffs. Two wins would allow Aberdeen to play host to the first round of the playoffs.
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