By Robert Wilson
Thanks to a couple of turnovers created by the defense and special teams and excellent offensive performances by senior quarterback Samuel Stockett and senior wide receiver Case Thomas, Madison-Ridgeland continued its eight-year dominance over Jackson Academy.
Senior defensive back Beckett Strong had a fumble return and senior defensive back Jack Ridgway blocked a punt to set up two touchdowns in the first half, Stockett passed for 281 yards and two scores and Thomas caught eight passes for 133 yards to lead MRA to a 35-24 victory over JA Friday night at JA’s Brickyard in Northeast Jackson.
MRA – ranked No. 3 in Mississippi and No. 1 in the MAIS by MaxPreps – improved to 5-1, won its fifth straight game and defeated JA for 11th consecutive time. JA – ranked No. 17 in Mississippi and No. 2 in the MAIS by MaxPreps – dropped to 4-1 and has not defeated MRA since a 30-7 victory in 2017.
MRA senior defensive back Evan Carr caused the fumble and Strong picked it up and returned it 26 yards to the JA 9 to setup MRA’s first score. Jack Poole scored on a 3-yard run for a 7-0 MRA lead with 6 minutes, 1 second to play in the first quarter.
After JA junior running back Aaric Beasley tied the game at 7-7 on a 31-yard TD run, MRA senior Jack Ridgway blocked a punt – his second this season – and MRA senior Parker Durham recovered it at the JA 2. One play later, MRA sophomore running back Colson O’Cain scored on a 2-yard run – his 12th TD run of the season – for a 14-7 MRA lead with 5:02 to play before halftime.
Stockett and Thomas – a member of the Performance Therapy/Mississippi Scoreboard Preseason Metro Jackson Elite 11 Team – got rolling in the second half.
Stockett – who came into the game leading Mississippi with 1,459 passing yards, according to MaxPreps – completed 9 of 14 passes for 196 yards and two TDs (a 71-yard pass to senior tight end Will Jones and a 29-yard pass to senior wide receiver Will Bizot) in the final two quarters.
Thomas – rated as the No. 50 player in Mississippi in the Class of 2026 by 247 Sports and the son of former Clinton High and Alabama kicker Neal Thomas – caught five passes for 72 yards in the second half. He led Mississippi with 623 receiving yards this season, according to MaxPreps, coming into the game and had his third consecutive 100-yard receiving game.
Bizot’s score gave MRA a 28-17 lead after JA senior and North Carolina commitment O’Mari Johnson – rated No. 17 player in Mississippi and No. 35 athlete in the country – returned a kickoff for a 97-yard TD to cut the MRA lead to 21-17.
MRA produced 22 first downs and 354 total yards against JA’s defense, which included two of the top rated players in the country in senior defensive lineman and Tennessee commitment Dereon Albert (No. 8 player in Mississippi and No. 28 defensive tackle in the Class of 2026) and senior linebacker and Tennessee commitment TJ White (No. 3 player in Mississippi and No. 5 linebacker in the country in the Class of 2026). MRA ran and passed behind its front line, led by 6-foot-3, 295-pound junior left tackle Caleb Unger (rated as the No. 11 player in Mississippi in the Class of 2027 and the No. 20 inside offensive lineman in the country).
JA produced 20 first downs and 356 total yards, running and passing behind an offensive front led by junior offensive lineman Caden Moss (No. 1 rated player in Mississippi and No. 4 rated offensive lineman in the country in the Class of 2027 by 247 Sports).
JA senior quarterback Josef Walker – rated as the No. 7 dual threat quarterback in Mississippi in the Class of 2026 by qbhitlist.com – completed 21 of 28 passes for 228 yards and one TD (a 15-yard pass to senior wide receiver Jaydann Hollins with 5:54 to play in the fourth quarter) and ran 14 times for 47 yards. Walker has completed 77.5 percent of his passes for 610 yards and 6 touchdowns without throwing an interception and has run for 120 yards and two TDs.
Beasley finished with 81 yards on 17 carries and freshman wide receiver Braylan Short caught four pases for 56 yards.
Like Thomas and Unger, Moss, Albert and White are members of the Elite 11 Team.
Senior defensive lineman Cade Gentry led MRA with nine tackles and Durham had eight. White led JA with 12 tackles and junior defensive lineman Jaiden Hulbert had seven.
JA played without senior running back Kingston Mays, who came into the game with a team-high 290 yards and six TDs this season.
MRA has the toughest rated schedule in the MAIS this season, losing only to Ravenwood, Tenn., High 28-24 in the season opener, Ravenwood is 6-0 and is ranked No. 6 in Tennessee and No. 208 in the country, according to MaxPreps.
Playing the tough schedule paid off Friday night, according to MRA coach Herbert Davis, who won his 251st career game along with six state championships in 29 seasons.
“We have played teams as good as or better than JA this season and it helped us last night,” Davis said. “But we are focusing on us this year, trying to get better every week and keep raising our level. Our defense helped us in the first half last night and our offense put it together in the second half. Case made big catches in key situations. Our guys kept battling.”
“I think we just did our job in the second half and executed the game plan,” Stockett said. “Our offensive line had been huge for us stepping up against some really talented players. Our schedule has made for a fun season and we enjoy competition week in and week out.”
“We were successful last night passing because our o line executed very well allowing for Stockett to have time to be able to make throws to us,” Thomas said. “When Stockett was passing it to us we were able to make plays for him. It was a whole team win and everyone executed great. The tough schedule helped us a lot because we were able to see what our team had.”
The schedule gets tougher next week when MRA travels to play Baton Rouge Catholic, the first time MRA has ever played a team from Louisiana in football. Catholic is rated the No. 2 team in Louisiana and No. 85 in the country, according to MaxPreps.
“They have the No. 5 rated running back in the country and their tight end has committed to Texas A&M,” Davis said. “I like the chemistry of our team and playing these tough teams gets us ready for the playoffs. We didn’t finish last November (lost to Hartfield in the semifinals) and we want to finish this year (MRA hasn’t won a state title since a three-peat from 2019-2021).”
“I feel like across the board we are playing the best high school football team that we have played since I have been in the league,” said second-year JA head coach David Duggan in a pregame interview with Raider Network’s Bryan Eubank. “Herbert does a great job. They work at the game in the offseason,. Their offensive line is big, they’ve got a good running back and they.have three elite receivers. You watch them play on defense and they play hard. They move a lot. They are strong. They are physical and they attack the ball. It is a big challenge for our team. Coach Davis does a really good job of trying to look at what would cause you problems. It’s your job to try to solve it.”
Duggan is trying to bring JA a state championship for the first time since David Sykes led the Raiders to a three-peat in 2009-2011.
