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 6-2 record (75 percent) last week in the first week of the season. He was 20-8 (71.4 percent) last week and 26-10 (72.2 percent) this season.
By Robert Wilson
MRA (1-1) at Hartfield Academy (0-1)
This is the first meeting this season between two of the Big 4 teams in the MAIS (Madison-Ridgeland Academy, Hartfield, Jackson Academy and Jackson Prep).
MRA is coming off an impressive 47-6 victory over Jefferson Davis County High – one of the contenders for the state championship in MHSAA Class 3A – Friday night at MRA. MRA lost to Tennessee Class 6A public school powerhouse Ravenwood 28-24 in its season opener.
MRA scored 27 points in the second quarter and led 33-0 at halftime.
MRA senior quarterback Samuel Stockett completed 9 of 15 passes for 290 yards and four touchdowns while only playing the first half and one play in the second half (a 58-yard TD pass to Will Bizot). Senior wide receiver Case Thomas – a member of the Performance Therapy/Mississippi Scoreboard Preseason Metro Jackson Elite 11 Team – caught four passes for 97 passes and one TD and now has 12 catches for 206 this season. Sophomore Colson O’Cain caught a TD pass and ran for a TD. Senior Jaxon Jenkins and junior Tripp Carroll caught a TD pass each and Michael McCrory ran for a TD. Backup junior quarterback Austin Banks threw a TD pass.
Senior defensive back Jack Ridgway and junior defensive back Ty Childress had nine tackles each and junior linebacker Boston Sims had eight tackles.
Two-time defending MAIS state champion Hartfield lost a close one to Columbia High – one of the contenders for the MHSAA Class 4A state title – a 22-21 loss at Hartfield.
Hartfield – which won 26 games and only lost two games over the past two seasons – is led by one of the best players in the country in senior defensive back-wide receiver-return specialist and Auburn commitment Bralan Womack, Womack is rated the No. 2 player in Mississippi, the No. 1 safety and No. 12 player in the country in the Class of 2026 by 247 Sports. He had five catches for 126 yards and one TD and had a long punt return called back because of a penalty.
Hartfield trailed 14-0 before junior quarterback Ethan Elliott completed a 3-yard pass to junior wide receiver and Brandon High transfer Logan Drummond in the second quarter. Elliott completed a 50-yard pass to Womack in the third quarter and senior running back and Liberty commitment KD Catchings scored on a 2-yard run in the fourth quarter. Elliott completed 13 of 23 passes for 210 yards and two TDs and Catchings had 15 carries for 55 yards and one TD.
Senior linebacker Coleman Yoder and senior defensive lineman Peyton Trigg had six tackles each and Catchings, who also starts at linebacker, had four tackles and one sack.
Both coaches – MRA’s Herbert Davis and Hartfield’s Craig Bowman – have won state championships.
Davis has won 247 games and five state championships (three at MRA, two at Brookhaven Academy and one at Pillow Academy) in 29 seasons 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 113 games in 12 seasons at MRA.
Bowman has a 53-13 record and two state titles (the first two in school history) in six seasons at Hartfield.
The last meeting between these two teams was a great game, Hartfield came from behind for a 17-14 victory in last year’s MAIS Class 6A semifinals at MRA.
MRA jumped out to a 14-3 lead on two long scoring drives (70 and 80 yards), but didn’t score again. Kenzy West – last year’s Mississippi Scoreboard Metro Jackson Player of the Year who is now a freshman with the University of Houston – scored a TD in the second quarter to close to gap to 14-10 and added a 1-yard TD in the third quarter for a 17-14 lead. MRA missed two field goal attempts (the last one with 2:47 to play in the game) and was intercepted deep in Hartfield territory to stop potential scores.
Hartfield produced 222 rushing yards, led by KD Catchings’ 147 yards. Catchings, a Liberty commitment, is back this year and MRA needs to slow down Catchings Friday night to increase its chances of winning.
The Hartfield loss last year meant MRA’s Davis missed the state championship game for the second straight season. He had only missed it once prior to last season since he took over at MRA in 2014. Davis won three straight state titles from 2019-2021.
Davis – known for his high-scoring offenses – scored 40 or more points in seven of his first eight games, but only scored 24 or less in three of his last four games. Friday night was the least number of points since a 21-14 loss to Prep in the 2022 state title game.
Look for MRA to score more than 14 points this week. Two of Hartfield’s best defensive players last season – Reginald Vaughn and London Simmons – played for Arkansas and Alabama respectively this past Saturday.
MRA 28, Hartfield 21
Brandon (0-1) at Madison Central (1-0)
The home team has won in this Metro Jackson rivalry every year since a 21-14 Madison Central victory at Brandon in 2014.
Madison Central opened the season with a 20-6 victory over Pearl in a MHSAA Class 7A non-region game at Pearl.
Brandon opened with a 36-15 loss to defending MHSAA Class 7A state champion Tupelo at Brandon in a rematch of last year’s state championship game.
Madison Central is ranked No. 5 in Mississippi and Brandon dropped to No. 8 from No. 2 according to MaxPreps.
Senior linebacker Ronderius King led Madison Central with 13 tackles, senior defensive back Will Shoemake and senior defensive lineman Dillion Marshall had 10 tackles each and junior defensive back Jeffrey Flanagan had nine tackles as the Jaguar defense held Pearl to one touchdown.
Junior running back Mikel Stephen had 97 yards on 10 carries and scored on a 54-yard in the third quarter and senior running back Mykel Hogue had 54 yards on 12 carries and scored on a 9-yard run in the fourth quarter.
Junior Ross Beavers – the first team kicker on last year’s Performance Therapy/Mississippi Scoreboard Metro Jackson team and one of four sophomores on the first team – kicked field goals of 31 and 27 yards and two extra points. He made 12 of 13 field goal attempts and 40 of 40 extra points attempts last season.
Brandon led Tupelo 7-2, but Tupelo scored 27 points in an eight minute span – the last five minutes of the third quarter and first three of the fourth quarter – to take a commanding lead.
Brandon junior quarterback Sladen Slack – one of four Brandon players on the Performance Therapy/Mississippi Scoreboard Preseason Metro Jackson Elite 11 Team – was under constant pressure from Tupelo’s talented defensive front and completed 8 of 16 passes for 125 yards with two interceptions. Junior running back Tyson Robinson – another Elite 11 member – had 74 yards on 12 carries. It was the second straight game that Tupelo has slowed down 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. He gained only 55 yards in last year’s state title game after gaining 1,240 going into the game.
Robinson, who has been nursing a hamstring injury, will be a game time decision to see if he plays against Madison Central, first-year Brandon coach Lance Pogue said.
This is a battle between two coaches who have won state championships at the highest level of MHSAA football.
Pogue has won more state titles than any other public school coach in Mississippi history at the highest classification, including a national championship and five state titles at South Panola.
Pogue’s 10-year run (2007-2016) at South Panola was amazing, a 126-17 record, an 88.1 percent winning percentage, and the five state titles and one national championship.
He has a career record of 246-71, a 78 percent winning percentage (one of the best in Mississippi history for coaches with 200 plus wins), with stops at Eupora High, Winona High, South Panola, Jackson Academy, Heritage Academy and Columbia High.
Pogue replaced Sam Williams, who won 45 games and had three state runner-up finishes in four seasons, before leaving to be the head coach at UMS Wright Prep, a private school in Mobile.
Madison Central coach Toby Collums has a 40-13 record (75.5 percent winning percentage) in his fifth season and won a state title in his first year in 2021 as the Jaguars head coach. He was named the Mississippi Scoreboard Metro Jackson Coach of the Year in 2020 when he led Northwest Rankin to a turnaround season and to a second-round playoff victory for the first time since the school opened in 1981.
Before coming to Madison Central, Collums had a 77-42 career record in 10 seasons as a head coach, 31-14 in four seasons at Itawamba AHS and 46-28 in six seasons at Northwest Rankin. He has had only one losing season in his coaching career.
Interesting fact: Pogue has only had three seasons in his career where he started the year off with an 0-2 record – the last one was his last season at South Panola in 2016. The other two were his first season at Eupora in 1998 and his only season at Winona in 1993.
Madison Central 21, Brandon 7
In other games (winning team in bold):
Amite School Center (1-1) at Park Place (1-0)
Callaway (1-0) at Murrah (0-1), Hughes Field
Clinton Christian (0-1) at Winona Christian (2-0)
East Rankin (2-0) at Southern Academy, Ala. (1-1)
Ethel (1-0) at St. Andrew’s (0-1)
Florence (1-0) at Kosciusko (1-0)
Forest Hill (0-1) at Vicksburg (1-0)
Greenville St. Joseph (1-1) at Madison St. Joseph (0-2)
Jim Hill (1-0) at Port Gibson (1-0)
Lamar (2-0) at Jackson Prep (0-2)
Lanier (1-0) at Moss Point (0-1)
Leake Academy (1-0) at Jackson Academy (1-0)
McAdams (0-0) at Discovery Christian (0-2)
Newton County Academy (2-0) at Christ Covenant School (2-0)
North Delta (1-1) at Central Hinds Academy (2-0)
Northwest Rankin (1-0) at Clinton (1-0)
Oak Grove (0-1) at Germantown (0-1)
Pelahatchie (0-1) at Enterprise-Lincoln (0-1)
Pisgah (1-0) at Bogue Chitto (0-1)
Provine (0-1) at Ridgeland (1-0)
Puckett (1-0) at McLaurin (0-1)
Raymond (0-1) at Crystal Springs (0-1)
Terry (1-0) at Canton (1-0)
Tri-County Academy (1-0) at Canton Academy (1-1)
Vancleave (0-1) at Richland (0-1)
Velma Jackson (0-1) at Yazoo County (1-0)
Warren Central (0-1) at Pearl (0-1)
