STARKVILLE — The New Hope High School football team found its offensive rhythm late Friday night in the New Hope Jamboree.
New Hope scored two touchdowns in the final 2 minutes, 38 seconds to rally past Amory 14-10 in the opening game of the two-day, seven-game event at Mississippi State’s Davis Wade Stadium.
Each game included the varsity squads playing a regulation half and junior varsity squads playing a 20-minute half with a running clock.
“We are still working on some things,” New Hope senior wide receiver Carlos Brooks said. “When we put it all together, we can be pretty good. We are trying to find our identity and trying to get everybody on the same page.”
Brooks, who is a veteran on the school’s boys basketball team, is in his first year with the football team. With the encouragement of classmates, he and basketball teammate Terryonte Thomas joined the football team. Each has strengthened the receiving corp.
Down 3-0, Thomas Stevens hit Brooks on a 37-yard touchdown with 2:38 remaining. That score converted a fourth-and-8 play and gave the offense life.
Amory responded with a 75-yard pass from sophomore Jartavis Jernighan to sophomore Immanuel Jones for a touchdown on the game’s next play.
Stevens then guided the team on a game-winning 63-yard drive. He capped the drive by hitting T.J. Stephens over the middle for a 3-yard touchdown with 57 seconds to go.
“We needed to get some things going,” said Stephens, a senior tight end. “We had some turnovers and made some mistakes. Hopefully, we can correct those. Overall, it was good to win. It was good to be out here playing again. We want to show everybody that last year was not a fluke and that we can have another good team.”
New Hope won 10 games in Kris Pickle’s first season as the school’s head coach. The Trojans lost 27 seniors from that squad.
“We are young, but we are growing up every day in practice,” Pickle said. “The thing is the kids are working hard and they are wanting to grow and get better. We will correct the mistakes and get better each week.”
New Hope played three quarterbacks. Stevens threw for close to 200 yards. The Trojans started the game with two extended drives but each ended with fumbles.
n Aberdeen 6, Forest 6: In a bizarre ending, the Bearcats scored with two seconds remaining. A missed extra point kick left the teams deadlocked.
Leading 6-0, Aberdeen made its second-goal line stand of the final quarter in the closing seconds. Forest had a first down at the Aberdeen 5-yard line and later faced fourth-and-goal at the 3. Aberdeen’s Tramonte Prather and Shavez McMillian combined to knock the ball loose from a receiver in the end zone.
With 14 seconds left, Aberdeen took over. Prather gained a couple of yards before losing possession. Forest junior Stevens Means recovered the ball in the end zone for a tying touchdown.
“We didn’t handle the end of the game well, but we will learn from it,” Aberdeen first-year head coach Eric Spann said. “Defensively, we played really well and had two great stops.”
Forest drove to the Aberdeen 3-yard line on its previous possession before. Here, the Bulldogs had two tackles for loss — including a huge stop by Terrance Row — to re-gain possession.
Aberdeen scored with 7:48 left on a 30-yard touchdown pass from Prather to Isiah McMillian.
Prather was making his debut at quarterback. He hopes to fill the void left by the graduation of Josh Williams, who led the team for the past three seasons. Williams is a freshman at Itawamba Community College in Fulton.
“I am really focusing on being a better leader,” Prather said. “I am still learning the quarterback position and all of its responsibilities. Fortunately, Josh was a great one to learn from. He taught me so much about the position. Each day we are getting better. After two or three games we should be able to do some really great things on offense.
“On defense, we have 10 starters back. Everybody likes to hit people. This team is really close, and our goal is the state championship. It’s going to take a lot of hard work to get there.”
Aberdeen appeared to take the lead in the first quarter when B.J. Williams had an apparent 100-yard interception return. However, the play was brought back by an inadvertent whistle.
n East Webster 41, Hamilton 0: The Wolverines played for the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 2A North State championship in 2014. Coach Doug Wilson’s squad has a large group of returnees and rode a dominant running game to victory.
East Webster began the scoring with a 4-yard touchdown run by Chase Keller. Jack Wilson then scored on a 15-yard run before hitting brother Luke Wilson for a 17-yard touchdown. The lead was 20-0 after one quarter.
Qua Evans followed with a 9-yard touchdown. Jack Wilson’s 52-yard run and Ronnie Thompson’s 12-yard run capped the scoring.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott.
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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