It didn’t take long for New Hope head coach Allen Glenn to know that it was going to be running back Jacob Jefferson’s night.
In fact, he knew after his first carry – a hard-charging 8-yard pick up against rival Caledonia last Friday in both teams’ regular-season finale. His first touch may not have been flashy, but it did set up a 1-yard touchdown run on his next attempt to get the game started. After giving just a small sampling of what he can do with the football, Jefferson put on a show the rest of the way as he led his team to a 55-22 victory in a performance that earned him The Dispatch’s Player of the Week.
The 5-foot-11 sophomore put on a clinic of pure speed against the Cavaliers, only needing seven carries to run for five touchdowns and pile up 223 yards of offense – that’s an average of 31.8 yards a carry. Not bad for a team that only had 14 snaps on offense in the first half. Only needing one carry to end most of New Hopes’ drives with a touchdown, Jefferson added runs of 77, 60 56 and 10 yards to his highlight reel.
“I mean, he’s deceptively fast,” Glenn said. “He’s not the biggest guy in the world, but he breaks tackles. He’s hard to tackle. That kind of one of our mantras here, ‘It’s embarrassing to get tackled.’ Anybody who touches the ball for us we want them to have that mindset. I think he takes ownership of that, but he is fast. (He’s) probably quicker than he is fast, which in the game of football, in my opinion, is probably more important anyway as far as your 10-to-20-yard burst (as) opposed to a 40-to-60-yard burst. But he’s a special kid, and we’re excited he plays for us.”
He finished his night with a kickoff return for a touchdown right after he ran another one back but had it canceled out due to a blocking in the back penalty during the return. In total, he produced six of the team’s seven scores on the night.
Jefferson finished the 2025 regular season with a team-leading 1,114 yards on 129 carries for a team-high 21 touchdowns. He’ll be a prominent weapon for the Trojans on Friday when they begin the Class 5A playoffs at home against Holmes County Central.
“He’s definitely a vital piece for us moving forward,” Glenn said. “He’s definitely one of the guys that we’ll lean on moving forward, especially this week in the first round of the playoffs, to help us have some success on offense. He does have teammates as well, but he’s definitely one that we are going to try to get the ball to for sure.”
Honorable mentions
Noxubee County’s Jykeim Goodwin threw for two touchdowns and 180 yards and also ran for another in his team’s 41-15 first-round playoff win over Yazoo County. West Point quarterback Colt Whitacre went 6-of-9 for two touchdowns and also had a reception for eight yards during the Green Wave’s 49-0 win over Columbus last week. West Point running back Kingston Branham ran for 166 yards and a score on 12 carries against the Falcons, and teammate and Class 5A Mr. Football winner Jorden Rush had nine tackles, four for loss, and two quarterback hits. West Lowndes running back Kylan Ellis produced two rushing touchdowns and caught a score during the Panthers’ 44-0 win over Coffeeville last week to begin the Class 1A playoffs. Heritage Academy’ Chris Willis had four catches for 173 yards and four touchdowns on offense and two pass breakups on defense during the Patriots’ 35-7 win over Oak Forest in the first round of the MAIS 4A Division II playoffs. Oak Hill Academy running back Boston Cunningham barged over Carroll Academy to the tune of 205 yards and four touchdowns on 15 carries to kickoff play in the MAIS 2A Division II playoffs with a 54-20 victory. Starkville quarterback Kingston Johnson threw for 345 yards, one touchdown and one interception and ran for 136 yards on 21 scrambles during his team’s 27-21 loss at rival Oxford last week.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
