By Darron Thomas
With only one week remaining until the 2009 MPSA football season gets underway a few jamborees got kicked off on Thursday night throughout the area. A large crowd gathered in Gallman to catch an early glimpse of area teams in the Copiah eight team jamboree.
The first game of the evening pitted the River Oaks Mustangs against the Huntington Hounds. River Oaks would get on the board first following a Ryan MacGregor interception of Huntington quarterback Jess Dossett. MacGregor then capped a scoring drive with a 6 yard touchdown pass to sophomore running back Davis Harris. Corey Talley added to the extra point to give the Mustangs an early 7-0 lead. It wouldn’t take long for Huntington to respond as quarterback Jess Dossett hit Devonte Savage for a 53 yard touchdown pass. The 2 point conversion failed and the game ended with River Oaks taking a 7-6 win. 
Newton Academy took on Central Hinds in game two. Central Hinds struck first when sophomore quarterback Jordan curry hit tight-end Blake Rutledge for a 30 yard touchdown strike at 13:37 in the game. The point after was missed and CHA took a 6-0 lead after their first possession. On Newton’s first play from scrimmage senior quarterback Tyler Cochran hit sophomore Dillon Williams with a 70 yard touchdown pass to tie things up. Newton’s two point attempt was stopped. Central Hinds would stop a late Newton drive with an interception in the end zone and the match-up ended in a 6-6 tie.
Hillcrest and Adams Christian took the field for game three. Hillcrest had success moving the ball early on as senior quarterback Austin Hartzog hit Caleb Baucum for 41 yards. With 13:00 remaining a 30 yard Hartzog touchdown pass to Justin Smith was called back due to holding and Adams took over but couldn’t mount a scoring drive. On Hillcrest’s next possession Hartzog was picked off by Bryce Murray of ACCS and Murray thrilled the crowd with a spectacular return deep into Hillcrest territory. With 42 seconds remaining Dillon Johnson would make his way into the end zone from two yards out to put Adams up 6-0. After a missed point after attempt Hillcrest would mount one last attempt to score but an ACCS sack by Ben Byrd would seal up the 6-0 win.
River Oaks took the field again to face the home-standing Copiah Colonels. On Copiah’s first possession the Colonels would methodically move downfield behind quarterback Hunter Renfroe, wide receiver Kelton Smith and running back Ben Boone. But a fumble at the Mustang 28 would turn the ball over to River Oaks with just over 17 minutes remaining. River Oaks quickly cashed in with a 17 yard pass from Ryan MacGregor to Vincent Moore but the drive stalled. Neither team could mount a sustained drive the rest of the way but with just 1:40 left in the game River Oak’s John Rocket would pick off a Hunter Renfroe pass and return it for a touchdown. The extra point attempt failed. River Oaks would hold on to take their second win of the night. 
East Rankin hit the field against Central Hinds in game five and took away a 9-0 win. ERA quarterback Brian Boyles hit Reed Davis for a five yard touchdown pass at the 14:30 mark to give the Patriots a 7-0 lead. As time was winding down Central Hinds put up a solid goal line stand and denied ERA the end zone on a fourth and goal from the one yard line. But on Central Hinds first play the Patriot defense answered right back stopping the Cougar running back in the end zone for a safety and a 9-0 win.No report as of yet on the final three games……
*Newton vs Huntington
*Copiah vs Hillcrest
*Adams vs East Rankin
I’ll be heading to McComb tonight for the Parklane Jamboree.
See ya somewhere……….
Below......."Shots from Copiah"
