Round one is over and what a first round it was! Three of Da Man’s Top 5 teams are out and two of those were bitten by the upset bug Friday night. The two squads that advanced did so in solid fashion. The Centreville Tigers and Trinity Saints could provide us with a rerun of last season’s South AA playoffs when they met in the 3rd round but they must get by Bowling Green and Oak Forest first. I don’t think it would be an overstatement to say that the biggest upset of the season came in Central Friday night as the District 5AA Champion Central Private Rebels were shocked by the Oak Forest Yellow Jackets in overtime. Bowling Green traveled to Brookhaven and came away with the mild upset of the District 4AA Champs by a two point margin. Copiah took the trip north to face the only undefeated team left in AA, the Winston Patriots, and gave the District 2AA Champs all they wanted for three quarters. Riverfield traveled to face the Lee Academy Colts of District 1AA. The Colts are the district runners up behind Kirk Academy. Riverfield had their hands full as Lee came away with a solid win. Round two looks to be exciting and who knows what upsets may await us?
*River Oaks (7-4) at Centreville (10-2)…….The River Oaks Mustangs finished out their season on Friday night as they were handily beaten by the defending state champion Centreville Tigers 39-8 in Centreville. The Stangs were never able to get any momentum and trailed 25-0 at the half as CA’s defense kept the RO offense in check the whole game. Zack Sinclair had 217 yards rushing and 4 touchdowns on the night and the Tiger defense held River Oaks to -26 yards rushing and just 58 yards total on the night. RO’s only score came in the 4th quarter as senior quarterback Cody Trichell hit Will White for a 40 yard touchdown pass. With the win Centreville will now host Bowling Green on Friday night.
*Simpson (8-3) at Trinity (11-1)……..The Trinity Saints protected their home field on Friday night with a 17-7 first round win over the Simpson Cougars. Defense was the theme in Natchez as the Saints allowed the potent running attack of Simpson only four 1st downs on the night and a total of 139 yards rushing. Linebacker Jordan Dossett led the Saint defense with two interceptions on the night. On the offensive side of the ball quarterback Givonni Dent hooked up with Wells Middleton on two scores of 65 and 33 yards and Chase Moroney booted a 31 yard field goal for Trinity. Simpson’s lone score came on a 73 yard Kyle Munn scamper. Trinity will host a second round match up with Oak Forest next. These two met in the 2nd round last season with Trinity topping OFA 35-12.
*Oak Forest (6-5) at Central Private (8-2)……….”SHOCKER”! While Jacket fans claimed to never doubt whether their squad would prevail, many including myself did. The Central Private Rebels had just wrapped up the district 5AA championship a few weeks back and talk was about their ability to make a serious run at a state title. I had moved the Rebels into the #2 spot in Da Man’s Top 5 just last week. The Rebs were undefeated at home this season and had won five straight to end the regular season. But obviously Oak Forest didn’t get the memo and left Central on Friday night with a 28-22 overtime win. The Jacket’s Jonothan Burrell scored on a 10 yard run in overtime to upset CP. Burrell had three rushing touchdowns, James Peterson connected on a 30 yard touchdown pass to Travis Thornton and Landon Curry booted a 23 yard field goal to lead the Jacket offense. For Central Private running back Bobby Muse ran for three touchdowns. The first quarter ended with Central Private holding a 7-6 advantage but Oak Forest stormed back in the second quarter to end the half with a 22-14 lead. The third quarter spelled big trouble for the home team as they had three consecutive fumbles on drives. Oak Forest enters round two of the playoffs at Trinity having won 4 of their last 5 games.
*Bowling Green (8-3) at Brookhaven (8-4)…….The Bowling Green Buccaneers traveled to Brookhaven Friday night for a rematch with the District 4AA Champion Brookhaven Cougars. These two met in week eight and provided one of the best games of the season with BG coming away with a 36-34 overtime win. While Friday night’s match up didn’t need overtime it was the same two point difference in what was another exciting game. Brookhaven, Da Man’s #4 team in the south, exits the 1st round for the 2nd consecutive year but not after a fight. After a slow 1st quarter start that saw Bowling Green miss a FG on their first possession and Brookhaven punting on theirs things started to get interesting when on BG’s second possession BA blocked a punt to set up a touchdown just before the end of the 1st quarter. Brookhaven would score again and Bowling Green would battle back before the half with two scores of their own and enter the halfway point trailing 13-12. In the first half Brookhaven attempted a two point conversion that failed and Bowling Green attempted two that failed. The second half saw Bowling Green scoring on three of their five possessions and taking a 26-20 advantage when the most critical point of the game came as Bowling Green kicker Jason Milton lined up for a 34 yard field goal attempt to give the Bucs a 9 point lead late in the 4th quarter. The kick was wide but Brookhaven was guilty of offsides providing the sophomore with a second attempt. Milton nailed the 29 yard field goal to give what turned out to be the margin needed as the Bucs edged the Cougars 29-27. With the win Bowling Green will travel to face Centreville next Friday in round two of the playoffs.
*Copiah (6-6) at Winston (11-0)……The Copiah Colonels ended their 2008 season on the road Friday night against the undefeated Winston Patriots 32-18. Copiah traveled north as a wildcard seed and provided Patriot fans with some unease as the Colonels held a 15-7 halftime lead. Copiah was in contention through much of the game and with a 28 yard field goal by Russ Singleton just 5 seconds into the 4th quarter the Colonels were only down 25-28. Winston would ice the game with a Tyler Dalton 27 yard strike to Austin Harrison. Copiah quarterback Hunter Renfroe ran for one score and passed to Jeremy Newman for another to lead the Colonels while the Winston Patriots were led by quarterback Tyler Dalton who had four touchdowns on the night. Winston will host Lee next.
*Riverfield (6-5) at Lee (8-3)……..The Riverfield Raiders traveled to Clarksdale Friday with hopes of derailing the Lee Academy Colts. A first half Corbin Carter 16 yard touchdown pass to Logan Moore wouldn’t be enough for the Raiders as Lee dominated and held a 24-6 advantage heading into the 4th quarter. Lee quarterback Taylor Tidwell ran for two scores and had one passing touchdown to lead the Colts to the 31-12 win. Lee next will face Winston.
“Shout Outs”….Round One
*Here’s a first round Da Man “Shout Out” to the entire Centreville Tiger defense for holding River Oaks to -26 yards rushing on Friday night.
*Another Da Man “Shout Out” goes to Trinity linebacker Jordan Dossett who had an interception in each half against Simpson Friday night.
*Da Man has a “Shout Out” for Bowling Green defensive end Tyler Applegate who had a huge game against Brookhaven on Friday night.
*Oak Forest senior running back Jonathon Burrell deserves a big “Shout Out” for his three touchdown performance against Central Private Friday night.
*Here’s another Da Man “Shout Out” to Centreville running back Zack Sinclair who rushed for 217 yards and four scores against River Oaks on Friday night.
*Here are two “Shout Outs” for Bowling Green kicker Jason Milton who kicked a heart pounding 29 yard field goal late against Brookhaven and Bowling Green punter Chris Jones who had a huge punt on the Buc’s last possession to help preserve the win.
*Two more Da Man “Shout Outs” to Trinity’s Wells Middleton and Givonni Dent. Dent hit Wells for two touchdown strikes in the Saint’s win over Simpson on Friday night.
*Wouldn’t be right if a “Shout Out” didn’t go to the Oak Forest Yellow Jackets for their big 28-22 overtime win over Central Private on Friday night.
WHO ARE YOUR “SHOUT OUTS” FROM FRIDAY NIGHT?
*Thanks again for all 69 text updates from Friday night.
See ya somewhere………….
