By Robert Wilson
FLOWOOD – For the second time in four weeks, a team from the MAIS dominated a defending state champion from the MHSAA, beating a team which has at least double the number of high school students.
MAIS Class 6A Jackson Prep defeated defending MHSAA Class 6A state champion West Jones 42-7 Friday night in a matchup between two undefeated teams before an estimated 3,000 at Prep’s Patriot Field.
In a game where there was a running clock for the entire second half because Prep took a 35-0 lead with 55 seconds to go in the second quarter, Prep controlled the line of scrimmage and had its way in every phase of the game.
MAIS Class 6A Madison-Ridgeland Academy did the same thing to defending MHSAA Class 7A Oak Grove three weeks ago in a 51-13 victory at MRA in Madison, having a running clock one minute into the second half.
Prep has about 120 students per class compared to West Jones’ 250 students per class. MRA has about 100 students per class compared to Oak Grove’s 450 students per class.
West Jones came in with the longest streak in the MHSAA (19 games) and hadn’t lost since the 2022 season after going 14-0 last season and 5-0 this year.
But the evident in the first quarter that winning streak was in serious jeopardy.
Prep took the opening kickoff and drove 65 yards in eight plays with senior running back and Arizona State baseball commitment Tre Bryant scoring on a 1-yard run with 8 minutes, 40 seconds to play in the first quarter.
West Jones couldn’t move the ball and Prep senior Russell Robbins blocked a punt and Bryant recovered at the West Jones 2. Prep senior running back Cole Gideon scored on a 2-yard run on the next play for a 14-0 Prep lead with 7:09 to play in the first quarter.
Photo by Jared Thomas
Prep senior quarterback Billy Puckett completed a 44-yard TD pass to senior wide receiver Gardner Young for a 21-0 lead with 33 seconds to play in the first quarter.
Puckett completed a 59-yard TD pass to junior wide receiver Aiden Rowe for a 28-0 lead with 5:02 before halftime.
Puckett completed a 6-yard TD pass to Gideon for a 35-0 lead with 33 seconds to play before halftime.
“We got off to a good start on the first drive to go up and the blocked punt was a huge play,” Prep coach Doug Goodwin said. “I thought it sort of set the tone. Our defense did a great job all night of running to the ball and gang tackling their two running backs (6-foot-2, 230-pound junior Elijah Jones Crosby and 5-11, 190-pound junior Caleb Holmes). Those two backs are really good players. Our assistant coaches did a great job with the game plan and our players did a great job of executing it. I’m really proud of all of them.”
Prep – ranked No. 7 in Mississippi by MaxPreps – improved to 6-0 this season and improved its record against MHSAA teams to 22-11, including a 13-4 record at home. Prep has six consecutive home games against MSHAA teams since losing to Oxford 26-21 to open the 2014 season. Prep’s first game against an MHSAA opponent was in 2001 in a 27-14 loss to George County at Prep.
Also, now the MAIS has won 16 of 17 games this season against MHSAA teams.
West Jones – ranked No. 13 in Mississippi by MaxPreps – was playing against its first MAIS team on the road.
West Jones defeated Prep 21-6 last year in its first meeting against a MAIS team and ended Prep’s 12-game winning streak and held Prep to the least number of points since 2004 in a battle between two undefeated teams.
A year ago, talented West Jones freshman quarterback Tootie Lindsey gained 102 yards and scored on a 43-yard run in the first quarter. Lindsey, now a sophomore, has had an elbow injury and hasn’t played quarterback much and only played wide receiver Friday against Prep in this year’s game.
West Jones has had one of the best football programs in Mississippi for decades. West Jones lost to eventual Class 5A state champion Picayune in the second round of the playoffs two years ago, the last game for highly successful coaching career of Scott Pierson, who retired after 21 seasons as West Jones head coach. Pierson had a 195-65 record, an excellent winning percentage of 75 percent, and won one state title in 2020, one runner-up finish in 2018 and reached the semifinals six other seasons.
Former South Jones head coach and Oak Grove offensive coordinator Cory Reynolds took over for Pierson and hasn’t lost a game. Reynolds has a 19-0 record, an incredible feat, before Friday night.
But Friday night, it was all Prep.
“It was just a good ole fashioned whipping,” said Reynolds, who had eight returning starters (five offense and three defensive) from last year’s state championship team, whose defense allowed only 78 points, had seven shutouts, and is considered one of the best defenses in Mississippi history. “Coach Goodwin and staff had his players ready, and they outplayed and outcoached us in all three phases of the game. We’ll watch the film, make the necessary corrections, and get our team ready to open up region play next week at Terry. Jackson Prep has a great team and will do some special things this season.”
Goodwin – who Reynolds has known since their days coaching against one another in Alabama – had been in plenty of big games before and had his players ready.
Prep – which has 13 returning starters from last year’s 10-4 team and lost to Hartfield 21-0 for the 6A state championship – and has 35 seniors and their experience showed Friday night.
Photo by Jared Thomas
Goodwin has now won 263 games in his 30-year head coaching career, including a 29-5 record in his third season at Prep. He led Prep to a 12-1 record and the MAIS Class 6A state title in his first season at Prep two years ago. Goodwin brought the Patriots back from the most losses since the first year of the school in 1970 (an 8-5 record in 2022). He won 234 games in 27 seasons in Alabama, is a member of the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame and was the first football coach in Alabama to take three different schools to state championship games. Goodwin led Demopolis to an undefeated season and a state title and set a state record with 761 points in 2008. He also had four state runner-up finishes.
Prep’s longtime defensive coordinator Nick Brewer has been a part of plenty of big games before, too. He has been at Prep since 1999 and been a part of 13 state championships. Known as one of the best defensive coordinators in Mississippi, Brewer had his undersized group, whose defensive lineman were outsized by an average of 40 pounds per player, made up for it with excellent execution on their assignments, wise decisions, fundamental tackling, teamwork and determination.
Prep’s defensive front of seniors Stewart Grubbs (5-10, 190), Jay Allen, (6-3, 240), Jack Carter (5-11, 190) neutralized West Jones’ huge offensive front, which averaged over 300 pounds per player.
“We knew that West Jones was going to be very physical, and they ran the ball a lot,” said Brewer, whose defense had allowed only 43 points, had two shutouts, and hadn’t allowed more than 14 points in a game this season going into Friday night. “They had two big and physical running backs. We were worried about that. We were undersized compared to them, but our kids played lights out. We had a good plan, told them what to do, our kids stepped it up and did a really good job of tackling.”
“We were watching film this week on Prep, and I told our players that their kids run the ball,” said Reynolds, whose team had only 172 total yards, and completed only 3 of 14 passes for 24 yards. “It seemed like they had about eight players close to the tackle on about every play. They play hard every play. If we can do that, we can have a chance to win another state championship. Prep is impressive.”
One of those ball-hawking Prep players was 6-foot, 200-pound senior linebacker Tre Bryant, who seemed to be around the ball the entire night. Bryant missed last year’s West Jones game after having shoulder surgery earlier in the season.
“The ultimate game plan was to just hit them in the mouth and keep hitting them,” said Bryant, who led Prep with 38 tackles and 4.5 sacks this season going into Friday’s game. “I think our defensive backs did a great job stopping the pass, which forced them to run the ball. We also defended the run really well. I watched a bunch of film and studied their tendencies so that I could perform better on Fridays. I got low and hit them in the mouth.”
Prep senior defensive back and Air Force commitment Major Quin, who is the only Prep player to start both ways (wide receiver-running back on offense), was another player who was another thorn in West Jones’ side all night.
“We planned to stop the run on defense,” said Quin, who also scored Prep’s last TD on a 2-yard run in the third quarter. “They have a very talented back (Jones Crosby) and we were able to limit his runs. Offensively, we knew if we could block them, we would be good. Our offensive line played extremely well, allowing Billy to have plenty of time to work in the pocket and get us the ball out wide.”
Jones Crosby – who had 1,002 yards and 16 TDs and rated No. 30 player and No. 4 running back in the Class of 2025 in Mississippi by 247 Sports – finished with 94 yards on 15 carries but was bottled up until his 42-yard TD run in the second half.
Prep’s offensive front was led by two of the three top senior offensive tackles in Mississippi in Matthew Parker (6-8, 315 pounds), a Baylor commitment, and Cole Allen (6-6, 265 pounds), a Duke commitment. Parker is rated No. 20 and Allen No. 21 in the Class of 2025 in Mississippi by 247 Sports. Only Tyler Miller of Laurel (rated No. 6) is ranked higher than Parker and Allen among offensive tackles. Parker has 25 Division I offers, including Power 5 schools Vanderbilt, Duke and Florida State. Allen has 19 Division I offers.
Puckett – whose Reynolds said Puckett was one of the toughest players he had coached against in his 26-year coaching career after last year’s game – was accurate and poised just like he has been all season. He completed 13 of 17 passes for 212 yards and three TDs, the majority of those yards in the first half. Puckett had completed 73.5 percent of his passes for 1,126 yards and 15 TDs and only 2 interceptions this season before Friday.
“One of the main things that I believed helped us get the job done was our preparation,” Puckett said. “We watched a ton of film on them, both defense and offense. I feel like offensively, there were no surprises or anything they threw at us that we weren’t ready for. Offensively, we were cruising all night and I believe that is because of the way our offensive line played. They had a great push all night in the run game and then gave me plenty of time to throw and pass the whole game whenever we wanted. It’s hard to stop a team that can run and throw really well and that is just what we did last night offensively.
“Our mindset going into this game was different than it has been all year. This was our first real test and a chance to make a statement. Everyone on the team had been locked in since Monday. That allowed us to have a great week of practice and by the time Friday came around we were ready to handle business.”
And handle business Prep did. Convincingly.
