PHEBA — Channing Tapley hit Andrew Myatt on a 10-yard touchdown pass in the first overtime period Friday night to lead the Hebron Christian football team to a 26-20 victory against Delta Academy in the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools Eight-Man playoffs.
Hebron Christian (8-3) will advance to face Sharkey-Issaquena, which eliminated Kemper Academy, next week. The winner of that game will play for the state championship.
The victory was the Eagles’ first in the playoffs since the 2008 season.
Hebron Christian forced overtime after Delta Academy tied the game on a 12-yard run by Tucker Shook with 1 minute, 35 seconds left in regulation. It stopped the conversion run on the next play The Eagles also allowed only 6 yards on four plays on Delta Academy’s possession in overtime to set the stage for the victory.
n Warren Central 21, Columbus 14: At Columbus, the Vikings used a strong game from senior quarterback Carlisle Koestler and some big plays by its special teams to take a 14-point lead against the Falcons on Friday night and then turned to the game over to their defense to save the day in their Class 6A, Region 2 victory,
The defense came up huge in the fourth quarter, stopping a long Columbus drive that went deep into Warren Central territory late in the game to preserve the win.
n Noxubee County 45, Indianola Gentry 6: At Macon, the Tigers plowed through the Rams on Friday in their victory in the first round of the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 4A North State playoffs.
Noxubee County (8-3), the defending Class 4A state champions, will face Ripley, which defeated Pontotoc 31-0, next week in the second round.
After a slow start, Noxubee County used the ground-and-pound technique to put Gentry away. The Tigers’ defense didn’t allow an offensive score.
West Alabama
n Pickens County 36, Gaylesville 13: At Reform, Ala., Devonte Simon and Jemarcus Brown combined to run for four touchdowns and more the 300 yards Friday night to lead the Tornadoes past the Trojans in the first round of the Alabama High School Athletics Association Class 1A playoffs
It wasn’t the cleanest game of the season for undefeated Pickens County (11-0). As a team they had 12 penalties for 133 yards.
“I’m glad we got the win, but I didn’t think we played well,” Pickens County coach Patrick Plott said. “We just weren’t mentally focused, mentally into the ballgame. We’ve got to cut out all the mental mistakes because at this point everybody’s good.”
The penalties and mental mistakes might have put a damper on the win, but they couldn’t hold back Simon and Brown. The duo ran for a combined 333 yards on 23 carries. They even connected on a 43-yard passing touchdown to account for all of Pickens County’s scoring.
For more on these games and all the rest of the local prep football action, check out Sunday’s print edition and our web site Sunday.
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