By Robert Wilson
Lance Pogue has been a part of many big wins in his brilliant, 25 year head coaching career – 249 victories, five state championships and one national title – but he would rank his Brandon Bulldogs’ grind-it-out, 3-0 victory over Rankin County rival Northwest Rankin Friday night as one of his biggest.
Playing without starting quarterback Slade Shack (recovering from an injury), Brandon’s defense held Northwest Rankin out of the end zone, Brandon junior running back Tyson Robinson moved to quarterback, gained 175 yards on 23 carries, and senior Jace Eldridge kicked 30-yard field goal with 4 minutes to play in the fourth quarter in the MHSAA Class 7A, Region 3 opener for both teams before an estimated 6,000 at Northwest Rankin’s Cougar Stadium in Brandon.
Brandon bounced back from consecutive losses to Top 25 nationally ranked Clay-Chalkville, Ala., and MHSAA Class 7A state championship contender Starkville to even its record at 3-3 and defeat Northwest Rankin for the eighth consecutive year and 13 of the last 14 years.
Northwest Rankin – whose only win over Brandon in the last 14 seasons was a 28-14 decision in 2017 – dropped to 3-3.
“I’ve been a part of some big wins, but these ol’ boys right there fought tonight and they wouldn’t be denied. We found a way to win. Whatever it takes,” Pogue told Chris Ebelhar of the Brandon Bulldog network on the field minutes after the victory. “I knew going into this game we couldn’t hardly let them score. That’s hard. They keep the pressure on you. We had some handcuffs offensively with some injuries. We put a plan together to give us a chance. We kept battling. Our defense fought hard. Our punt team kept us alive. It took all of us. We don’t win if our offense doesn’t grind it out and chew up all the clock, our defense had to keep hanging in there, and our special teams did a great job. It’s all about pride. Pride stands the test of time throughout our life. You will have some times that are tough but you have to battle back. If you have a little pride, heart and guts, you can overcome. We are proving that. We’ve got a good football team. We’ve got a week off now and get some guys healthy. Our best is in front of us. We’ve played a brutal schedule. You’ve got to keep it alive.”
This had been the roughest five game start of a season for Brandon since 2017 when the Bulldogs started 2-3 and finished 7-6.
In fact, Brandon has not lost more than three games in a season since going 5-6 in 2020 before Sam Williams took over as head coach. Williams, now in his first season at UMS Wright Prep in Mobile, Ala., finished 11-3 in 2021, 12-2 in 2022, 10-3 in 2023 and 12-2 last season.
But Friday night might be the start of a winning streak and gave Brandon an 1-0 record in region play under Pogue, who is in his first season at Brandon. Pogue is best known for his success at South Panola where he had a 126-17 record, five state championships, and one national title (2007) in 10 seasons.
A healthy Robinson gives Brandon a much better chance. Robinson – the No. 4 running back and the No. 42 player in the country in the Class of 2027 by 247 Sports who has 19 Division I offers, including 10 from the SEC – has been battling a hamstring injury all season, but showed flashes of his old self last week with 65 rushing yards, 74 receiving yards and two TDs and had his best game of the season Friday night.
Robinson moved to quarterback this week after Shack – who passed for 2,586 yards and 24 TDs last season as a sophomore and had 207 passing yards this season – was injured in the third quarter of last week’s game with Starkville when the ball went out of the end zone for a safety.
Robinson – who gained 1,295 rushing yards and had 24 touchdowns and caught 42 passes for 668 yards for 10 TDs last season as a sophomore – not only changed positions this week, he also changed numbers, going from No. 7 to No. 17.
“The coaches told me I had to step up and put the team on my back,” Robinson said. “Quarterback comes with a lot of pressure, controlling the whole field and trying to get my guys to just keep pushing until the clock hit zero. It was fun at quarterback. I changed from No. 7 back to No. 17 because my freshman year I wore No. 17 and was hungry to get on the field. I only have half a season now to prove myself and went back to No. 17. I’m still hungry.”
“We had to find a way to get the football to our best football player so we decided to put Tyson in the wildcat and direct snap him the ball,” Pogue said. “Doing that would give us the best chance to win the game and control the clock. We came close to scoring more points, but we had either some penalties or snap issues that set us back. Tyson is a great kid and he’s almost back to 100 percent. He still has some conditioning, but that’s coming.”
“We are very proud of Tyson – we had a single wing package that we figured gave us the best chance to be successful,” Brandon offensive coordinator Wyatt Rogers said. “There were really two keys to the package – Tyson Robinson and Carlos Campbell – unfortunately for us – Carlos was hurt the second play of the game – it really limited us and what we had planned with our starting quarterback out we were limited . Tyson never batted an eye – and we had a senior beside him that stepped up as well – Kaden Hines Scott that took just enough of the load off of Tyson – proud of the way our running backs played.”
Robinson ran behind the offensive line, led by senior and Jackson State commitment Adyen Newell, a 6-foot-4, 310-pounder who is rated as the No. 38 player in Mississippi and the No. 83 inside offensive lineman in the country in the Class of 2026 by 247 Sports.
Robinson, Newell, Shack and senior safety and Colorado commitment Preston Ashley (rated as the No. 10 ranked player in Mississippi and No. 20 ranked safety in the country in the Class of 2026 by 247 Sports with 23 Division I offers, 10 from the SEC) are members of the Performance Therapy/Mississippi Scoreboard Preseason Metro Jackson Elite 11 Team this season.
“We were able to keep them out of the end zone by every player on the defense fighting, not giving up and giving 110 percent on each down,” Ashley said. “(Senior defensive back) Lahare Boils was the MVP in my eyes last night as he went toe to toe with a highly sought player and made him work all night. This win gives our team a good boost in confidence going into the off week. We just need our team to come together at the right time.”
Pogue, who doubles as the defensive coordinator, and his defense allowed Northwest Rankin only 160 total yards, 85 rushing and 75 passing.
“It all started with our defensive line,” Pogue said. “They controlled the line of scrimmage. Our linebackers and secondary played well too. They made big plays all night and didn’t allow a big play.”
While Brandon has more Elite 11 players than other team in Metro Jackson, it was the 5-10, 135-pound Eldridge who scored the only points in the game. Eldridge was 1 for 3 in field goal attempts this season with only make a 28-yarder against Madison Central. This is Eldridge’s first year to play football. He replaces Rhett Griffith, who made 11 of 14 field goal attempts last season as a senior and made second team on the Mississippi Scoreboard All Metro Jackson team.
“The first day I got to Brandon, I put the word out that I was looking for some punters and kickers,” Pogue said. “I met Jace on the first day. He’s a starter on the soccer team and wanted to try out.Jase won the job. He’s got a strong leg and has never flinched. Jace has that kind of ‘throw me out there’ attitude. I was talking to him last night and told him did he ever think he would be kicking the potential winning field goal against our crosstown rival. He was fired up about it.”
Pogue also got an outstanding performance from his punter, 6-5, 193-pound senior Cole Childs.
“Cole was one of those guys who had never been a punter before and has a strong leg too,” Pogue said. “He has great hang time on his punts. Cole had his best game last night. He flipped the field for us and was a huge part of us winning. He was a big weapon for us.”
Northwest Rankin is trying to have its first winning season since 2020 when it went 9-4 and Toby Collums, now at Madison Central, guided the Cougars to two playoff victories.
Northwest Rankin has gone 2-8 in 2021, 4-7 in 2022, 5-5 in 2023 and 5-6 last year. The Cougars have had a tough time finishing strong, losing the last four games of the season three of the last four years.
Devin Cooper is in the 5th season at head coach at Northwest Rankin. Cooper took over for Collums five years ago after having success at a defensive coordinator at Clinton (he was a part of the MHSAA Class 6A state championship team with All-American Cam Akers in 2016) and then three years as head coach at Scott Central where he had a 35-6 record (an 85.3 winning percentage) and won a MHSAA Class 2A state title in his first year in 2018.
Cooper won only two games in 2021 – the worst season at Northwest Rankin since 1998 – but he has gradually improved his program.
He came close to getting his fourth season this season Friday night.
“I’m very proud of the effort from our team,” Cooper said. “Our guys always play hardened with heart. We played very well defensively to keep the game tight against Brandon, who also played well defensively. (Northwest Rankin defensive coordinator) Coach (Phillip) Poole and our defensive staff did a great job adjusting to Brandon’s wildcat scheme that involved direct snaps to Tyson Robinson. Our defensive players did a great job of putting the quick adjustments into action. It was a tough battle where yards and consistency offensively for both sides were hard to come by. This game is a crosstown and in district rivalry that always generates adversity and tough moments.”
Northwest Rankin threatened in the final minutes.
“We reached the 20-yard line in the fourth quarter with a fourth and 3 and we decided to go for the first and were not successful,” Cooper said. “We again moved the ball across the 50 to around the Brandon 35 on the last possession from our 20 with 2 minutes, 10 seconds to play at the start of the possession. We ended up in a fourth and long. We needed 10 more yards to get us in field goal range. Brandon made another good defensive stop to keep that from happening.”
Northwest Rankin junior quarterback Gavin Phillipson scrambled for 15 yards for a first down to the Brandon 35 with 38 seconds to play. But after three incomplete passes, Cooper had to make a decision to try a long field goal attempt or go for a first down or a TD. Phillipson threw for the end zone and Brandon’s and Brandon junior defensive backM Trey McQueen broke up the potential winning TD in the final seconds.
Brandon was able to keep one of the best athletes in the country from breaking a big play.
Northwest Rankin 6-4, 181-pound junior wide receiver De’Shawn Dillon. Dillon – rated as the No. 13 player in Mississippi and the No. 49 wide receiver in the country by 247 Sports – had caught 31 passes for 621 yards (second in Mississippi behind Madison-Ridgeland Academy’s Case Thomas) and five TDs this season going into Friday night and had seven catches for 120 yards and two TDs in last week’s 28-20 win over Brookhaven. But Dillon – has Division I offers from Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Southern Miss, Jackson State, Alabama, Auburn, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Nebraska, and Troy, Ala. – wasn’t able to shake free from the Brandon defensive backs, who were watching Dillon’s every move. Dillon caught three passes for 35 yards.
Said Pogue: “Dillon is a special talent. We knew going in that we had to know where he was at all times. Our defensive backs did a great job covering their receivers and making sure they didn’t make a big play all night.”
Northwest Rankin, like Brandon, are off this next week.
“We’ll reboot over the off week next week,” Cooper said. “We have a great team that I feel great about and know we’ll get ready for the next battle. I l love my guys and thankful for the great atmosphere created by our school and our community.”
