For Southern Sports & Travel, By Brad Greer
North Delta had to wait nearly 365 days to get their paws on Simpson Academy, the team that eliminated the Green Wave in the first round of the Academy AA state playoffs last year.
The wait is now over.
Led by a pair of touchdown passes from quarterback Bryan ' B' Nickle to fellow senior wide receiver Corbin Baker and a stout defensive effort, North Delta advanced to the Class AA North State Championship game with a 28-17 victory over the No.4- ranked Cougars before a stunned home crowd Friday night in Mendenhall.
(Above) North Delta quarterback Bryan Nickle (#3) looks to the sideline for direction
North Delta, (10-1), will put their state-best ten game winning streak on the line Friday night as they host Leake Academy at 7 p.m. The winner of that game will take on the River Oaks, (La.)/ Brookhaven winner next Friday at Mississippi College for the MAIS AA State championship. Leake defeated Winston 23-21 Friday night to earn the right to play North Delta.
Leading 21-17 with under three minutes to play, North Delta put the game away when defensive linemen Sy Pritchard scooped up a Jacob Busby fumble at the Green Wave 40 and rambled 24 yards to the Cougar 36-yard line. After a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty moved the ball to the Simpson 21. Three plays later and facing a 3rd-and-15 call, Nickle connected with Baker on a 26-yard scoring strike with 1:48 remaining for the final margin of victory.
After both teams battled to a 14-14 deadlock at halftime, John Reed Robinson booted a 27-yard field goal at the 5:56 mark of the third quarter to give Simpson a 17-14 lead. North Delta responded with a 11-play,76-yard drive that was capped off by Tres Brasell's one-yard run to give the Wave a 21-17 lead with 34 seconds left in the period.
The drive was keyed by a eleven- yard scramble by Nickle on 4th-and 8 from the Simpson 36 that gave North Delta a extra set of downs. Afterwards, Green Wave head coach Dan Werner talked about the gutsy call.
" Well if we had punted the ball and it went into the endzone, it would only netted 18 yards so we said lets go ahead and give it a shot on getting the first down and fortunately we were able to keep the drive alive," said Werner.
Another huge play came earlier in the drive as John Cody Dalrymple tossed a 22-yard pass to Nickle on 3rd-and 9 from the Green Wave 25.
North Delta jumped out to a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter as Brasell capped out a 16-play, 80-yard drive with a one-yard run with three seconds left in the stanza. Placekicker Kyle Devazier played a vital role by nailing all four point after at temps in the game.
Simpson knotted the game at 7-7 on their next possession when junior tailback Cade Eiland raced 16 yards into the endzone to end a eight-play, 68-yard drive that took 3:58 off the clock with Robinson adding the PAT.
The Green Wave waisted little time regaining the lead as Taylor Morris returned the ensuing kickoff 35 yards to the North Delta 47. After a holding call push the ball back to the 37, Nickle hooked up with senior wideout Jim Tom Copeland who made an outstanding leaping catch over a Simpson defender for a 26-yard reception.On the very next play,Nickle hit Baker on a 37-yard touchdown pass to make the score 14-7 after Devazier's PAT.
"This feels great, its a lot better than it did last year when we played down here," said Baker, who ended up with four catches for 81 yards on the night. " Ever since we lost to Magnolia Heights that first game of the season we have been working hard every day to get to where we are now.This game has been on our minds for three months now, even before two-a-days, we've wanted Simpson bad," said Baker.
The Cougars tied the game at 14-14 late in the first half as Josh Hankins hauled in a diving 22-yard reception of a Brandon Johnston pass at the 1:02 mark of the second quarter. Hankins caught two passes for 34 yards in the game while Johnston finished the game 4-of 7 passing for 75 yards.
" I cannot say how proud we are of these kids and how they competed tonight," said Werner. " After last season, we talked about using the regular season as sort of a building block to get back to this game. and the kids have work hard to get to this point. We knew Simpson was going to try and stop the run so he felt like we could pop a couple of deep passes.We hit a deep pass to Jim Tom one time then they starting double covering him, but that opened everybody else up also.
Simpson rushed for 249 yards on the ground while out-gaining North Delta 324-240 in total yardage. Johnston led the Cougars rushing attack with 122 yards on 22 carries while Eiland, who came into the night as the state's number two rushing with 1,502 yards finished the game with 82 yards on 10 carries. The Cougars hurt themselves with penalties by being flagged nine times for 100 yards.
Brasell led the North Delta ground game with 22 carries for 50 yards while Nickle added 15 yards on nine totes. Michael Magee chipped in with three carries for nine yards. Nickle passed for 144 yards while Dalrymple added one pass for 22 yards. Copeland followed Baker in receiving with two catches for 63 yards.
The wait is now over.
Led by a pair of touchdown passes from quarterback Bryan ' B' Nickle to fellow senior wide receiver Corbin Baker and a stout defensive effort, North Delta advanced to the Class AA North State Championship game with a 28-17 victory over the No.4- ranked Cougars before a stunned home crowd Friday night in Mendenhall.
(Above) North Delta quarterback Bryan Nickle (#3) looks to the sideline for directionNorth Delta, (10-1), will put their state-best ten game winning streak on the line Friday night as they host Leake Academy at 7 p.m. The winner of that game will take on the River Oaks, (La.)/ Brookhaven winner next Friday at Mississippi College for the MAIS AA State championship. Leake defeated Winston 23-21 Friday night to earn the right to play North Delta.
Leading 21-17 with under three minutes to play, North Delta put the game away when defensive linemen Sy Pritchard scooped up a Jacob Busby fumble at the Green Wave 40 and rambled 24 yards to the Cougar 36-yard line. After a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty moved the ball to the Simpson 21. Three plays later and facing a 3rd-and-15 call, Nickle connected with Baker on a 26-yard scoring strike with 1:48 remaining for the final margin of victory.
After both teams battled to a 14-14 deadlock at halftime, John Reed Robinson booted a 27-yard field goal at the 5:56 mark of the third quarter to give Simpson a 17-14 lead. North Delta responded with a 11-play,76-yard drive that was capped off by Tres Brasell's one-yard run to give the Wave a 21-17 lead with 34 seconds left in the period.
The drive was keyed by a eleven- yard scramble by Nickle on 4th-and 8 from the Simpson 36 that gave North Delta a extra set of downs. Afterwards, Green Wave head coach Dan Werner talked about the gutsy call.
" Well if we had punted the ball and it went into the endzone, it would only netted 18 yards so we said lets go ahead and give it a shot on getting the first down and fortunately we were able to keep the drive alive," said Werner.
Another huge play came earlier in the drive as John Cody Dalrymple tossed a 22-yard pass to Nickle on 3rd-and 9 from the Green Wave 25.
North Delta jumped out to a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter as Brasell capped out a 16-play, 80-yard drive with a one-yard run with three seconds left in the stanza. Placekicker Kyle Devazier played a vital role by nailing all four point after at temps in the game.
Simpson knotted the game at 7-7 on their next possession when junior tailback Cade Eiland raced 16 yards into the endzone to end a eight-play, 68-yard drive that took 3:58 off the clock with Robinson adding the PAT.
The Green Wave waisted little time regaining the lead as Taylor Morris returned the ensuing kickoff 35 yards to the North Delta 47. After a holding call push the ball back to the 37, Nickle hooked up with senior wideout Jim Tom Copeland who made an outstanding leaping catch over a Simpson defender for a 26-yard reception.On the very next play,Nickle hit Baker on a 37-yard touchdown pass to make the score 14-7 after Devazier's PAT.
"This feels great, its a lot better than it did last year when we played down here," said Baker, who ended up with four catches for 81 yards on the night. " Ever since we lost to Magnolia Heights that first game of the season we have been working hard every day to get to where we are now.This game has been on our minds for three months now, even before two-a-days, we've wanted Simpson bad," said Baker.
The Cougars tied the game at 14-14 late in the first half as Josh Hankins hauled in a diving 22-yard reception of a Brandon Johnston pass at the 1:02 mark of the second quarter. Hankins caught two passes for 34 yards in the game while Johnston finished the game 4-of 7 passing for 75 yards.
" I cannot say how proud we are of these kids and how they competed tonight," said Werner. " After last season, we talked about using the regular season as sort of a building block to get back to this game. and the kids have work hard to get to this point. We knew Simpson was going to try and stop the run so he felt like we could pop a couple of deep passes.We hit a deep pass to Jim Tom one time then they starting double covering him, but that opened everybody else up also.
Simpson rushed for 249 yards on the ground while out-gaining North Delta 324-240 in total yardage. Johnston led the Cougars rushing attack with 122 yards on 22 carries while Eiland, who came into the night as the state's number two rushing with 1,502 yards finished the game with 82 yards on 10 carries. The Cougars hurt themselves with penalties by being flagged nine times for 100 yards.
Brasell led the North Delta ground game with 22 carries for 50 yards while Nickle added 15 yards on nine totes. Michael Magee chipped in with three carries for nine yards. Nickle passed for 144 yards while Dalrymple added one pass for 22 yards. Copeland followed Baker in receiving with two catches for 63 yards.
