JACKSON — On paper, the matchup figured to be one of the best Mississippi High School Activities Association title games.

Aberdeen and Forest high schools entered their game Saturday with matching high-powered offenses and stifling defenses.

Turnovers and missed opportunities typically spell the difference in games as evenly matched as these, and that”s how the story played out at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Forest capitalized on two lost fumbles by Aberdeen in the first half, turning one into a touchdown, and then delivered a key defensive stand in the fourth quarter to preserve a 10-8 victory in the Class 3A championship.

“We went into the ballgame knowing both teams had real good defenses, and said who turns the ball over is going to get beat,” Aberdeen coach Chris Duncan said. “We turned it over three or four times, and we turned it over deep a couple of times and our defense held all day.”

Aberdeen”s defense played one of its best games of the season. Already with two shutouts in the playoffs, the Bulldogs used a sack by Channing Ward on Forest”s first series to deny the Bearcats a touchdown. Eric Moya”s 25-yard field goal made it 3-0 6 minutes, 32 seconds into the game.

Aberdeen wasn”t as fortunate two series later. Sherman Boyd intercepted a screen pass by Desmond Jones on third-and-9 from the Aberdeen 28. Boyd nearly did everything himself before being stopped at the Bulldogs” 3. Quillian Jones scored on the next play to help push the lead to 10-0.

“They covered it and they were there,” Duncan said. “They undoubtedly read what we were doing. In a case like that we try to get it into the ground or we throw it away or we take a sack. I don”t know what he saw. He has played there all year for us, and definitely that play didn”t beat us. There were a lot more plays during the game that happened that we didn”t make plays on that beat us.”

The first half was a story of missed opportunities for Aberdeen.

On the Bulldogs” second series, wide receiver Jalen Devauld got his feet tangled trying to change direction to catch a pass from Smith. The ball had enough air under it to allow Devauld, who was behind the defender, to use his speed to complete the touchdown. Senior running back Victor Hodges (31 carries, 134 yards) fumbled on the next play.

In the second quarter, Aberdeen got rolling thanks to strong running by Hodges. Unfortunately, the drive stalled after Justin Lucas couldn”t hang on to a pass by Smith on second down that would have went for a first down. On third down, Sherman Boyd worked free into the backfield to stop Hodges for a 3-yard loss. The Bulldogs then went for a fake field goal, only to have the snap out to the left go through the hands of kicker Antonio Crayton. The Bearcats recovered the loose ball. Aberdeen”s defense rose to the occasion, as Johnny Wilson broke up a fourth-down pass play to snuff out the threat.

“Those guys did a fantastic job against a football team that was averaging 40-something a game,” Duncan said of his defense. “It was a great job. We have a lot of them coming back, and maybe we can keep working and keep our heads together and try to salvage what we can salvage out this and go to work again.”

Aberdeen just couldn”t get anything going on offense. Justin Robinson sacked Smith on fourth down to end the Bulldogs” first possession of the third quarter. The Bulldogs didn”t get the spark they needed until the next series, when Devauld scooped up a fumble by Hodges and raced 81 yards for a touchdown.

Devauld said he was blocking, looked back, saw the ball pop out, and picked it up and ran.

“I wasn”t going to get caught,” Devauld said. “That play changed the momentum a lot. Like I said, we just needed one more play and we would have had a victory.”

Hodges” two-point conversion energized the crowd and had the Bulldogs thinking of a comeback.

Forest”s defense had other plans.

“It turned the game momentum for a little while, and our kids didn”t let it shake them,” Forest coach Jud Boswell said. “It was just one of those freak plays. The guy fumbled it and we had him stopped and the ball was out on the ground, and the next thing you know you see a guy going about 70. It didn”t shake the kids at all.”

Boswell, whose team entered the game with nine shutouts, said it was “unbelievable” that his team held Aberdeen to eight points. Still, he said the performance wasn”t the best effort this season by that unit. He called efforts in victories against Hazelhurst and 2009 Class 3A champion Tylertown even better.

“Their defense was giving us a little problem, but our offense wasn”t clicking as good,” Aberdeen senior running back Brandon Smith said. “We weren”t coming together as a team. We were pulling away from one another. Our coach told us at halftime we have to stick together and play football. Last year, they gave up. This year, we stuck together. All of us had to be (together). We just let it slip away.”

Duncan felt the Bulldogs had the Bearcats on their heels after the fumble recovery for a touchdown. The frustrating part for him was watching an offense that moved the ball so well all season with Hodges, who entered the game with 2,033 yards and 34 touchdowns, unable to click on another big play.

“We just didn”t make the plays and they did,” Duncan said “You have to make plays in big games.

Hodges” inability to convert a fourth-and-inches inside the Forest 30-yard line with about seven minutes remaining in the game proved to be the most troubling play of all.

“We get that first down we probably go in and score,” Duncan said. “We get the first down and we are inside the 20 and we got a 60-yard drive going and have the momentum going and we are going to hand it to Vic three more times and see what he can do with it. We just didn”t get it. We came up a little short. The game of football is a game of inches, and we lost by an inch.”

Said Hodges, “We moved it pretty well, it”s just that mistakes killed us. We should have taken advantage. We tried, but I guess it just wasn”t meant to be.”

Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.