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 18-5 record (82.6 percent) last week and has a 205-61 record (77.0 percent) this season.
By Robert Wilson
HARTFIELD ACADEMY (7-4) VS. JACKSON PREP (11-1)
Jackson Prep has won an MAIS record 24 state football championships and will be going its first since 2022 when the No. 2 seed Patriots play the No. 4 seed Hawks for the MAIS Class 4A, Division I state championship Friday at 7 p.m. at Mississippi Christian University in Clinton.
Prep has won seven consecutive games since a 28-25 loss to Madison-Ridgeland Academy in the fifth week of the season.
The last win was a big one. Senior quarterback Essary played his 12th straight game without a interception and completed 10 of 15 passes for 237 yards and three touchdowns to lead Prep to a 42-21 victory over defending MAIS Class 4A, Division I state champion and crosstown rival Jackson Academy in the semifinals at Prep in Flowood.
Chance Lovertich, who led Prep to a 13-1 record and a state championship as a junior in 2016, is the only other Prep quarterback in history not to throw an interception in a season with at least 50 attempts.
Essary has completed 101 of 147 passes (68.7 percent) for 1,529 yards and 20 TDs this season.
Prep senior running back Wade Smith had 22 carries for 100 yards and one TD. He now has 1,328 yards and 18 TDs this season.
Prep senior linebacker Owen Brown had 13 tackles and senior linebacker Gaines Reeves – nephew of Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves – had 12 tackles.
In the other semifinal, Hartfield senior quarterback Ethan Elliott had 25 carries for a career-high 196 yards and two touchdowns and passed for 140 yards and one TD to lead Hartfield to a 31-12 victory over No. 1 seed MRA at MRA in Madison.
For his outstanding performance, Elliott has been named the Taste Restaurant/Mississippi Scoreboard Metro Jackson Football Player of the Week.
Elliott has passed for 1,341 yards and 10 TDs and ran for 899 yards, a 9.3-yard average, for 12 TDs this season.
Essary passed for 245 yards and two touchdowns, junior running back Herrin Goodman produced 207 all-purpose yards and two TDs and set up another one with a long punt return, Smith had 125 rushing and receiving yards yards and a score, senior offensive lineman Parks opened lanes for Prep’s running backs and protected Essary, and senior linebacker Brogen McCluskey and Brown led the defense and held Hartfield to its second lowest point total against MAIS competition this season in a 31-19 victory at Hartfield.
Prep coach Doug Goodwin has won 286 games, 52 at Prep after 234 wins in 27 seasons in Alabama where he was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.
Hartfield coach Craig Bowman led Hartfield to back to back state championships in 2023 and 2024 and won 26 of 28 games during that two-year span.
Hartfield went through a tough time midway through this season – losing four of five games – but has bounced back with four straight wins entering this week’s championship game.
Hartfield has defeated Prep in the playoffs for the past three seasons and hold a 6-5 series advantage of the Battle of Lakeland Drive.
Essary and the Prep defense will take this one and give Prep’s 25th state title and second for Coach Goodwin.
Jackson Prep 28, Hartfield Academy 14
Leake Academy (9-3) at Tri-County Academy (10-1)
The teams, both nicknamed Rebels, meet in a MAIS Class 3A semifinals matchup in a rematch of last year’s MAIS Class 3A state championship game.
Leake needed a 27-yard field goal by junior Caden Stovall on the game’s final play for a 26-24 victory. Leake quarterback George Wilcox produced 403 yards – 219 passing and a career-high 184 rushing – and three TDs to lead Leake to the win. Tri-County had won the last two state championships and had defeated Leake 52-18 in the regular season.
Tri-County, like it did in the regular season last year, defeated Leake 47-21 at Leake earlier this season.
Tri-County, which outscored Leake 27-8 in the second half, were led by a pair of juniors, wide receiver-defensive back Landon Patridge and running back-linebacker Cade Hunt, who combined for six TDs. Patridge had a 69-yard interception return in the first quarter, a 56-yard catch from senior quarterback Brady Busby and a 6-yard run, both in the third quarter. Hunt had a 5-yard run in the first quarter, and 1-yard run and a 14-yard run, both in the fourth quarter.
Busby completed 11 of 17 passes for 256 yards and one TD. Senior John Hudson Bates scored Tri-County’s other TD on a 6-yard run in the first quarter.
Senior tackle Houston Mullins, senior end Crews Albritton and freshman linebacker Landon Utroska had eight tackles each.
Leake senior quarterback Majure Chandler completed 14 of 31 passes for 160 yards and three TDs and ran 23 times for 87 yards. Senior wide receiver and East Central baseball commitment Easton Page caught eight passes for 97 yards and two TDs, a 6-yarder in the first quarter and a 21-yarder in the third quarter. Junior Ryals Wilkerson caught the other TD pass, a 5-yarder in the second quarter. Senior linebacker Gavin Gomillion had 10.5 tackles and junior linebacker Ryker Wells had 8 tackles.
Leake was missing three starters, senior wide receiver Gage Warren (shoulder injury), sophomore safety Cullen Manuel (concussion) and senior lineman Talon Dillard (leg injury).
Tri-County has won 39 of its last 42 games, with two of those losses to Jackson Prep, and three state titles with two state runner-up finishes in the past five seasons.
If Tri-County is going to win, it will need a big game from Hunt, who has gained 1,474 yards and 27 TDs this season.
Leake needs a big game from Chandler, who has passed for 3,251 yards and 30 TDs this season.
Tri-County and Leake are rated No. 1 and No. 2 in the MAIS Class 3A by MaxPreps, but because of the MAIS power point system, Tri-County is seeded No. 1 and Leake No. 4 so they are meeting in the semifinals and Tri-County gets the home field advantage instead of the teams meeting next week for the championship on a neutral field at Jackson Academy.
Tri-County 35, Leake 28
In other games (winning team in ALL CAPS):
Brandon (7-3) at GULFPORT (9-1)
Canton (8-2) at CENTER HILL (8-2)
CENTRAL HINDS ACADEMY (9-3) at Cathedral (6-5)
GERMANTOWN (6-4) at DeSoto Central (7-3)
Hernando (7-3) at MADISON CENTRAL (6-4)
Lafayette (8-3) at LANIER (9-2)
Ridgeland (5-5) at LAKE CORMORANT (10-0)
Terry (6-5) at HANCOCK (6-4)
