By Robert Wilson
Heritage Academy junior quarterback Mack Howard is rated as the No. 6 best recruit in Mississippi, the best quarterback in Mississippi and No. 19 in the country in his class by 247 Sports.
Copiah Academy and the fans at Friday afternoon’s MAIS Class 5A state championship game at Jackson Academy found out why.
Howard completed 13 of 15 passes for 334 yards and six touchdowns in three quarters to lead Heritage to a 51-21 victory over Copiah.
Heritage finished with a 13-1 record and won its second state championship in three seasons. Copiah, playing in its first state championship game since winning it in 2006, finished 10-3.
“Mack was Mack,” Heritage coach Sean Harrison said. “He showed why he is a big time Division I recruit (offers from No. 5 ranked Cincinnati, Louisville, Kansas, Houston and Middle Tennessee State). He made smart decisions and threw great balls. (Senior) Mitchell (Woodard) and (junior) Trey (Naugher) went and got it for him.”
The 6-foot-2, 185-pound Howard was spectacular with his accuracy, hitting receivers time and time again right on target. He connected on 7 of his first 8 passes for 190 yards and fourtouchdowns – 26 yards to Naugher, 8 yards to senior Eli Dement, 51 and 73 yards to Woodard – in the first quarter and 40 secondsinto the second quarter. By that time, it was 27-7 Heritage.
Heritage led 30-7 at halftime and 51-13 after three quarters.
“I’m really proud of the way we came out,” Harrison said. “We gave up a big play early (Copiah senior running back John David Weed ran for a 72-yard TD in the opening minute), but we rebounded nicely. I thought the defense did a great job of settling in. I’m proud of our offensive line and running backs for taking over when they pulled everyone out of the box.”
Howard also completed TD passes to junior Luke Fisher and a third one to Woodard (who had four catches for 195 yards) and senior Wesley Miller scored on a 25-yard run and had 88 yards on nine carries.
Fisher and Dement, who also play linebacker, and Miller, who also plays strong safety, led the defense 11, 9 and 6 tackles respectively. Miller had an interception.
Weed had 313 yards on 33 carries and three TDs
