By Robert Wilson
Thanks to the talented running back duo of Tyson Robinson and Kingston Mays and the solid blocking of the offensive line, Eugene Clinton celebrated his birthday weekend with his first official victory as a permanent head coach.
Clinton, who replaced Lance Pogue midway through last season and then was named permanent head coach after the season, led Brandon to a 33-23 victory over Madison Central in a non-region Class 7A Metro Jackson matchup at Brandon’s Bulldog Stadium.
Brandon – ranked No. 8 in MHSAA Class 7A and No. 14 in Mississippi – bounced back from a 38-14 season opening loss to No. 1 Tupelo last week and improved to 1-1. Madison Central – ranked No. 7 in MHSAA Class 7A and No. 11 in Mississippi – dropped to 1-1. The Jaguars defeated Pearl 17-7 in their season opener last week.
Brandon led 7-2 after one quarter, 20-16 at halftime and 27-16 after three quarters.
Robinson – a 5-foot-11, 195-pound senior and Michigan commitment who is rated the No. 10 player in Mississippi and the No. 20 running back in the country in the Class of 2027 by 247 Sports – gained a career-high 201 yards on 24 carries and scored two touchdowns.
Mays – a 5-9, 195-pound senior and Jackson Academy transfer who is rated as the No. 40 player in Mississippi in the Class of 2027 by 247 Sports – gained 90 yards on 18 carries and scored two TDs.
The offensive line of junior left tackle Carter Smith (6-3, 260), junior left guard Jamison Spencer (6-foot, 310), senior center Dalton Gregg (5-11, 275), junior right guard Uguster Jones (5-10, 315) and senior right tackle Talon Harvey (6-foot, 290) opened holes to help produce 383 yards of total offense.
Clinton – who has been assistant for 18 seasons (the first eight at Provine and the last 10 at Brandon) – celebrated his 49th birthday Saturday.
Clinton guided the Bulldogs to a 4-2 record last season after he took over for Pogue, including wins over Ocean Springs and Oak Grove in the MHSAA Class 7A playoffs before losing to eventual champion Gulfport in the semifinals.
“It’s a honor, it’s a blessing and God has shown His favor on me,” Clinton said in an interview after the game Friday night with Chris Ebelhar with the Brandon Bulldog Network. “It’s great when you have two running backs like Tyson and Kingston and the offensive line did a good job. What they worked on all week, that’s what they did. They plowed the way for those two running backs. We looked at what we messed up on last week and we wanted to correct it. The defense did a great job holding on. The coaches did a great job of getting the players back out here (after the Tupelo loss) and getting their heads back in the game and working on the tackling during the week.”
Robinson had 610 yards and seven TDs as a freshman and 1,295 yards and 24 TDs as a sophomore and helped Brandon to 22 wins and back to back 7A state runner-up finishes, but was injured most of last season and had only 67 yards and no TDs as Brandon struggled to a 7-6 record.
Robinson – who has 38 Division I offers, including 12 from the SEC – is looking to have a comeback senior season.
“Everything was really working, just having to be patient and hit the hole when you see it so that happened a bunch, thanks to my offensive line,” Robinsons said. “But it meant a lot to win. It’s what we needed to boost everybody up after our loss last week. Those guys were motivated to play through adversity.”
Mays – who has Division I offers from Arkansas State and Texas-San Antonio – had 383 yards and eight TDs in six games in an injury-plagued season and helped JA to an 11-1 record and the MAIS Class 4A, Division I state championship, the first state title at JA since 2013.
Brandon’s offensive line has four returning starters – Smith, Spencer, Gregg and Harvey – and Jones had playing time last year.
“The offensive line was prepared and focused for the game Friday night,” Brandon offensive line coach Tyler Stanley said. “They understood their assignments well and executed at a high level. We’re planning to progress and develop our craft week to week and be firing on all cylinders heading into division play. I was very proud of them from Friday and looking forward to watching them grow and produce as a unit throughout the season.”
Brandon junior linebacker Travion Washington – a member of the Taste Restaurant/Mississippi Scoreobard Preseason Metro Jackson Elite 11 team who is rated the No. 8 player in Mississippi and No. 21 linebacker in the country in the Class of 2028 by 247 Sports – had a team-high 16 tackles, 6 tackles for losses, and 2 hurries. He had 11 tackles last week against Tupelo. The 6-1, 190-pound Washington has 33 Division I offers, including 12 from the SEC. He had 120 tackles, 25 tackles for losses, and 2 sacks and 2 pass breakups last season.
“We were able to just put the Tupelo game behind us because we knew that we lost because of mental errors, so going into this week we just went back to the drawing board,” Washington said. “That led us to playing how we played and this game really showed me how talented our defense is so that definitely raised my confidence a bunch.”
Brandon has had two TDs from two new players, Division I prospects and Jackson Prep transfers. Junior wide receiver Josh Parker – rated the No. 4 player in Mississippi and No. 20 wide receiver in the country in the Class of 2028 by 247 Sports – returned a punt for a 95-yard TD. Junior defensive back Kam Roberts – rated the No. 11 player in Mississippi and the No. 54 cornerback in the country in the Class of 2028 by 247 Sports – returned an interception for a 60-yard TD.
Parker has 12 Division I offers, five from the SEC, and Roberts has 11 Division I offers, three from the SEC.
Madison Central junior quarterback Tripp Smith completed 24 of 36 passes for 153 yards and two TDs, one each to junior Jack Brunini and senior Tyler Hutchins.
Madison Central senior linebacker and Western Kentucky commitment Corey Wiggins – a member of the Taste Restaurant/Mississippi Scoreboard Preseason Metro Jackson Elite 11 Team – had 21 tackles. He had 17 tackles last week against Pearl. Wiggins had 127 tackles last season as a junior. He has 17 Division I offers.
