Senior quarterback Fred Rice threw for 204 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 53 yards and three scores as the West Lowndes High School football team tuned up for the playoffs with a 56-6 rout of Vardaman.
Rice hit Marquez Shelton for 40- and 39-yard TD passes and found Decamby Willis for a 31-yard score during his 10-of-13 passing day. He rushed for touchdowns of 9, 4 and 4 yards as West Lowndes, which already had locked up the region title, improved to 8-2, 7-0 in Class 1A, Region 3. The Panthers scored at least 50 points for the third time this season.
Vardaman fell to 3-6 and 2-5.
JaQuavious Tate led the rushing attack with 167 on 15 carries, scoring a touchdown on a 2-yard run during the first quarter. Shelton’s 91 yards receiving led the team, while Tate had a team-high four catches.
West Lowndes overwhelmed Vardman in total offense 485-88, gaining 281 rushing yards while holding the Rams to minus-10 and finishing with 204 passing yards to Vardaman’s 98.
Aside from 12 penalties for 90 yards, the Panthers did just about everything right. They played turnover-free football and never punted, nor did they allow a sack. They were 3 of 4 on third-down conversions, while the Rams were 1 of 7 on third down and 0 for 4 on fourth down.
Starkville 14, Grenada 10: For the second consecutive week, the Chargers played better than their record against a superior foe. Last week it was a 19-17 loss to Oxford, and this week it was Starkville that had to gut out a win to wrap up the Class 6A, Region 2 title.
The other half of that was decided when Madison Central crushed Oxford 48-7. The Yellow Jackets owned the head-to-head tiebreaker over Madison Central but not Oxford, and the Jaguars’ win combined with the Yellow Jackets’ win gave Starkville the top seed.
The Yellow Jackets (10-1) will host Hernando (5-6) in their playoff opener Friday night. Hernando earned the fourth seed out of 6A-1 by the slimmest of margins; they tied Horn Lake with a 4-3 region record and defeated 27-26 on Oct. 22.
New Hope 42, Saltillo 7: The Trojans rebounded nicely from a tough loss to Lake Cormorant to roll past the Tigers.
The win gives New Hope a .500 on-field record at 5-5 and closes their 5A-1 season at 2-5. The Trojans posted their best record since 2016, which is also the last time they scored more points than they allowed and the last time they won more than one game in their region.
New Hope’s 147 points allowed is the team’s best defensive performance since 1996.
The Tigers finished 2-9, 1-6 in 5A-1.
MAIS playoffs
Tri-County Academy 56, Oak Hill Academy 14: The Rebels’ continued their offensive explosion by rolling past the fourth-seeded Raiders in the Class 4A quarterfinals in West Point.
Tri-County Academy (11-1) has been held to fewer than 40 points just once: a 19-18 loss to Adams County Christian, the game that decided the district title.
The Raiders end their season 5-6, still looking for their first playoff victory since 1992.
AHSAA playoffs
Aliceville 46, Ider 6: TyJarian Williams completed 15 of 20 passes for 296 yards and three touchdowns as the Yellow Jackets routed the Hornets in the opening round of the AHSAA Class 2A playoffs.
Aliceville compiled 420 yards of total offense while holding Ider to 2.7 yards per play. The Jackets matched the Hornets’ 134 yards rushing in half as many plays (48-24), and the Hornets did not complete either of their two pass attempts.
TyQuan Simon caught four passes for 173 yards and two touchdowns for Aliceville (9-2). Jermaine Brewer led the Jackets in rushing with 81 yards and a touchdown on 9 carries.
The 11th-seeded Yellow Jackets will travel to No. 6 seed Spring Garden on Friday night to take on the undefeated Panthers in the second round.
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