Photo by Brandon Jackson
Veteran sportswriter and high school football expert Robert Wilson is doing the Germany Law Firm, PLLC/Mississippi Scoreboard predictions column each week during the high school football season on teams from Hinds, Madison, and Rankin County. Wilson had a 24-5 record (82.8 percent) last week and has a 168-52 record (76.3 percent) this season.
By Robert Wilson
PEARL (2-7) AT BRANDON (6-2)
Eugene Clinton got his first victory as head coach last year when he and his Bulldogs defeated Pearl 17-10 in a hard-earned victory in 75th meeting between the two Rankin County rivals in the Rankin County Super Bowl at Pearl.
Clinton, who spent 18 seasons as an assistant coach (eight seasons at his alma mater Provine and 10 seasons at Brandon), took over for Lance Rogue, who resigned in his first season at head coach at Brandon.
Clinton lost to Oak Grove 20-7 in his debut as head coach, but bounced back with a victory over Pearl.
Since that Oak Grove loss, Clinton has won 10 of 13 games and after last season was promoted from interim to permanent head coach.
Unlike last year when he was battling a nagging hamstring injury most of the season, Brandon senior running back and Michigan commitment Tyson Robinson is at full speed and had a great game last week in a 43-28 victory over Oak Grove. Robinson had 22 carries for 294 yards and four touchdowns and has 1,129 yards and 14 TDs this season.
Brandon has won five straight meetings and 15 of the last 20 meetings and holds a 48-26-1 lead in the longtime series that began in 1949 that ended in a 0-0 tie. The two teams have played each other every year except for 1953 and 1954.
One never knows what will happen in this rivalry game, with an overflow crowd of more than 8,000 expected at Brandon’s Bulldog Stadium.
Pearl and Brandon fans remember the instant classic game in 2017 when Pearl was on its way to a 16-0 record and the state championship when Brandon, which finished 7-6, almost pulled the upset. A young Will Rogers almost led Brandon to the win as a sophomore but Pearl pulled out a 28-27 overtime victory when Brandon missed an extra point attempt.
First-year Brandon offensive coordinator Justin Hunter – who replaced longtime OC Wyatt Rogers, now quarterbacks coach at Madison Central – was Pearl’s head coach the last time the Pirates won in this series in 2020.
Brandon 28, Pearl 14
MRA (7-2) at Parklane Academy (8-2)
Madison-Ridgeland Academy has won 10 straight games in this series, dating back to a 47-28 Parklane victory in 2017.
Nine times in those 10 wins, MRA has scored more than 40 points and the Patriots almost did in the first half in last year’s meeting, rolling up a 35-14 lead and won 49-24 at MRA. MRA produced 444 total yards in the first half and finished with 594 yards.
Parklane has won back to back state championships and is considered the best team outside of Metro Jackson Big 4 of MRA, Jackson Academy, Jackson Prep and Hartfield Academy in the MAIS.
Parklane – which defeated Starkville Academy 26-0 and Heritage Academy 45-0 in the semifinals and championship game last season – wants to show it belongs in the conversation along with the Big 4 and sixth-year Parklane coach Ron Rushing – who has won three state titles (two at Parklane and one at Natchez Cathedral) knows this is his opportunity to show it.
Rushing led Parklane to a 18-7 victory over Prep last season for its first victory in the series in 40 years.
MRA coach Herbert Davis – who has won 264 games in 30 career seasons, 138 wins at MRA in 13 seasons – is looking to use this game to continue positive momentum toward his seventh state championship of his career. He hasn’t won a state title since a three-peat in 2019-2021.
If Davis – who is in his first year as defensive coordinator at MRA after spending the previous 12 years as offensive coordinator as well as head coach – and his team are going to win in McComb Friday night, they must slow down freshman quarterback Reece Robinson, who has passed for 1,769 yards and 22 TDs with only 2 interceptions, and his main target, senior wide receiver Kardez Copeland, who has caught 48 passes for 1,137 yards and 15 TDs and has returned nine kickoffs and punts for a 27.2-yard average this season. Robinson, although just a freshman, has two Division I offers in Tulane and Georgia State. Copeland, who has offers Copiah-Lincoln Community College, Hinds CC and Southwest Mississippi CC, ranks 46th in the country in receiving yards and second in Mississippi behind Leake Academy’s Easton Page (1,475 yards).
MRA’s high-scoring offense is led by senior quarterback Austin Banks (67.3 completion percentage, 2,036 yards, 20 TDs, 3 interceptions), junior running back Colson O’Cain (492 yards, seven TDs), senior wide receiver Jack Dalton (56 catches for 857 yards and 10 TDs and senior offensive lineman Caleb Unger, rated the No. 14 best player in Mississippi in the Class of 2027 by 247 Sports.
MRA 42, Parklane 28
In other games (winning team in ALL CAPS):
Pelahatchie (3-6) at PUCKETT (7-2), Thursday
Pisgah (4-5) at UNION (4-5), Thursday
Raymond (1-8) at MENDENHALL (7-2), Thursday
St. Andrew’s (3-6) at QUITMAN (3-6), Thursday
MCLAURIN (2-7) at Park Place (4-4), Thursday
Callaway (4-5) at WARREN CENTRAL (8-0)
CANTON (7-1) at Greenville (3-5)
Clinton (2-6) at GERMANTOWN (4-4)
George County (3-5) at TERRY (5-4)
JIM HILL (2-7) at Forest Hill (0-9) (South Jackson Field)
Murrah (1-8) at OXFORD(7-1)
NESHOBA CENTRAL (5-3) at Ridgeland (4-4)
Northwest Rankin (3-5) at OAK GROVE (6-2)
Provine (3-6) at FLORENCE (3-6)
STARKVILLE (6-2) at Madison Central (4-4)
BROOKHAVEN ACADEMY (6-3) at Central Hinds (7-3)
HARTFIELD ACADEMY (5-4) at Starkville Academy (6-3)
JACKSON PREP (9-1) at Oak Forest Academy (La.) (4-5)
Madison St. Joseph (1-9) at MAGNOLIA HEIGHTS(8-1)
TRI-COUNTY ACADEMY (8-1) at St. Aloysius (4-5)
