By Robert Wilson
MADISON – Madison-Ridgeland Academy ended defending MAIS Class 6A state champion Hartfield Academy’s Mississippi best 21-game winning streak Friday night with a 44-35 victory before an estimated 5,000 at MRA’s Patriot Field.
And the Patriots can thank Arkansas public school Class 7A power Pulaski Academy and defending MHSAA Class 7A state champion Oak Grove for playing a major part in the big MRA victory.
Partly because MRA played tough competition like Pulaski and Oak Grove earlier this season, the Patriots controlled the line of scrimmage for the last one and half quarters and outscored the Hawks 20-7 to overcome a 28-24 deficit.
MRA improved to 7-1 overall – its only loss a 60-38 decision to Pulaski, ranked No. 3 in Arkansas by MaxPreps – and 2-0 in league play. MRA defeated Oak Grove 51-13, the most points allowed Oak Grove since 2009. Oak Grove is ranked No. 12 in Mississippi by MaxPreps.
Hartfield, which hadn’t allowed more than 7 points in a game this season and had allowed 27 points all season, dropped to 7-1 overall and 1-1 in league play. The Hawks’ closest game was a 49-7 win over Heritage Academy in the season opener. Heritage was ranked No. 88 by MaxPreps, the highest rated team Hartfield had played this season before Friday night. Hartfield’s opponents had a combined 25-24 record this season before MRA.
Hartfield had defeated MRA in the past two meetings, and last year’s 63-56 victory was the closest any team had come to the Hawks during their 21-game winning streak.
Hartfield hadn’t lost a game since a 10-7 decision to Jackson Prep for the 2022 6A state championship. The Hawks had won 30 of their last 33 games over the past three seasons.
Hartfield has 12 returning starters (seven on defense and five on offense) from last year’s state championship team.
But MRA – which came in ranked No. 9 in by MaxPreps – took it to Hartfield early, jumping out to a 21-0 lead after the first quarter. But Hartfield rallied in the second half and took a 28-24 lead on junior wide receiver Bralan Womack’s one-handed catch and run, which resulted in a 63-yard touchdown with 4 minutes, 30 seconds to play in the third quarter.
But after that MRA pretty much controlled the game, scoring 14 points in the next two minutes on a pair of TD passes from junior quarterback Samuel Stockett to senior wide receiver (4 yards and 31 yards) for a 38-28 lead after three quarters.
Hartfield – with six players with Division I offers and one of the most talented teams in Mississippi – never recovered.
“They executed well all night. We didn’t. We were tired. They weren’t,” said Hartfield coach Craig Bowman, whose starters averaged about playing half the game because they were leading by several TDs in every game at halftime.
It showed in the second half, especially at the line of scrimmage. MRA grinded out 231 rushing yards (senior running back and Arkansas State commitment DJ Watkins had a team-high 117 yards) to go along with Stockett’s 278 passing yards (17 of 31 passes for four TDs) for 509 total yards.
MRA’s offensive front, led by 6-foot-2, 260-pound senior Sebastian Griffin and 6-2, 280-pound sophomore Caleb Unger neutralized Hartfield’s defensive front, led by 6-3, 290-pound senior and Alabama commitment London Simmons and 6-3, 270-pound senior and Arkansas commitment Reginald Vaughn. Simmons and Vaughn had been dominating up front, leading the team with 31 and 27 tackles, 16 and 4 tackles for loss, 9 and 3.5 sacks, respectively, this season before Friday night.
“It was a war on the line of scrimmage,” said Unger, who already has eight Division I offers. “They would get some plays and we would get some plays. In the fourth quarter, they were tired, and we were conditioned so we used that as a weapon and executed the win.”
Griffin and Unger and the rest of offensive line protected Stockett, who was solid once again and had poise in the pocket and found his receivers for first downs all night.
“Our offensive line had an incredible game, showing we can run the ball,” Stockett said. “We got off to a great start with Camden Starkey’s pick six (the senior linebacker intercepted a pass and returned it for a 25-yard TD for a 7-0 MRA lead a minute and a half into the game) and the offense added a couple more. We were clicking by then. We faced adversity and fought back showing that as a team we have grit. Our defense played great.”
And then Stockett felt the early season competition was beneficial.
“Our team has already seen some of the best talent in the state,” said Stockett, who not only had played Pulaski and Oak Grove, but opened the season against MAIS Class 5A state title contender Parklane Academy, ranked No. 24 by MaxPreps. “We weren’t scared of those guys and knew how to respond to adversity.”
Stockett had completed 66.7 percent of his passes for 1,915 yards and 25 TDs with only five interceptions his season coming into Friday. Stockett was John White’s backup for the last two seasons. White, now a freshman at Southern Miss, set a Mississippi career passing record with 15,529 yards in his five-year high school career. He also threw for 177 career TDs, second all-time in Mississippi history. White passed for 3,557 yards and 42 touchdowns last year as a senior.
Stockett passed for a career-high 433 yards and six TDs – the majority in the first half – in the win over Oak Grove.
MRA coach Herbert Davis – a Brookhaven Academy, Co-Lin CC, and Mississippi College (bachelor’s degree) and Delta State (master’s degree) graduate – won his 244th career game with go along with six state championships (three at MRA, two at Brookhaven Academy and one at Pillow Academy) in his 28th season as a head coach. He is the only football coach in Mississippi history to take five schools (MRA, Brookhaven Academy, Pillow Academy, Heritage Academy and Winston Academy) to state championship games. Davis has won 110 games in 11 seasons at MRA.
“We executed early and got off to a good start,” Davis said. “We went through some time there when we didn’t execute, but we got it back and finished well. Having played four quarters earlier this year was big, too. We kept the ball and had 76 plays to their 50 and that was important. Hartfield is really good, they made some big plays. Our defense made some big plays when they had to. When we fell behind, we made two huge series in a row where we scored.”
Three other MRA players who had outstanding games were senior wide receiver Will Jones – grandson of longtime Mississippi College basketball coach and athletic director and Mississippi Hall of Famer Mike Jones – junior kicker and Hartfield transfer Jaxon Jenkins and senior kick returner Matthew Perkins.
Jones caught four passes for 139 yards, an average of 34.8 yards per catch. Jones had only caught six passes for 45 yards this season going into Friday.
Jenkins, who had shared kicking duties with junior Wade Hansford this season, made 3 of 3 field goal attempts (38, 36 and 27 yards) and made 5 of 5 extra points attempts.
Perkins – who missed last year’s game against Hartfield after having leg surgery earlier in the season – had two big kickoff returns of 44 and 43 yards to help put MRA in good field position. Perkins had two kickoff returns for TDs and was averaging 37.5 yards per return last season before his injury.
The 6-1, 196-pound Womack – the No. 1 rated safety and No. 26 player in the country in the Class of 2026 by 247 Sports – had an outstanding game in the loss. Womack, who was questionable with a wrist injury prior to the game and sat out last week’s game with Oak Forest, La., caught four passes for 210 yards and four TDs, with catches of 68 yards in the second quarter, 15 yards and 63 yards in the third quarter and 64 yards in the fourth quarter. He also gained 33 yards on four carries.
Womack – who has 32 Division I offers, all 16 SEC teams and most of the AP Top 10 – came into the game with 16 catches for 457 yards (28.6 yards per catch) and six TDs, two kickoff returns for a 54-yard average and one TD, three punt returns for a 34-yard average and one TD, and eight interceptions, four for TDs.
MRA did their best to keep the ball away from Womack, kicking the ball short on kickoffs, throwing away from Womack and trying to keep him covered as much as possible.
“Bralan was a big part of how we fought our way back into the game,” Bowman said. “He was the best player on the field last night and did everything he could do to give us q chance. He is just at a different level.”
Said Davis: “He is an incredible talent and showed it again tonight.”
Womack was the difference in last year’s Hartfield win over MRA. He sealed the win when he made a great play on an interception at the Hartfield 2 with 16 seconds to play. He returned two kickoffs for touchdowns, a 98-yarder in the second quarter and a 99-yarder to start the second half and caught two TD passes. In addition to his game-saving interception, Womack had several pass breakups during the game.
Hartfield senior wide receiver-defensive back-kick returner Kenzy West – one of the six Division I prospects who was instrumental in last year’s win over MRA – caught two passes for 40 yards and had two runs for 12 yards. But West threw a 40-yard TD pass to senior wide receiver and Hinds Community College baseball commitment Sam Sheffield with 1:02 to play in the second quarter to close the MRA lead to 21-14.
West had caught 16 passes for 377 yards (23.6 yards per catch) and six TDs, returned two kickoffs for a 71.5-yard average and one TD, returned six punts for a 37.3-yard average and two TDs, and returned a fumble for a TD this season going into Friday.
West caught seven passes for 105 yards and one TD, ran for a 44-yard TD, intercepted one pass, and broke up several other passes in last year’s win against MRA.
Hartfield’s 6-2, 215-pound junior running back KD Catchings – who has Division I offers from Central Arkansas and Western Kentucky – came in with 559 yards, averaging 14 yards per carry, and 12 TDs this season, but only gained 40 yards on 14 carries, 2.9 yards per carry, and biggest gain was 9 yards.
Hartfield returning starting senior quarterback Cayman Tapper – who had completed 63.7 percent of his passes for 1,148 yards and 18 TDs with only three interceptions this season – completed 13 of 27 passes for 359 yards and five TDs.
