Veteran sportswriter and high school football expert Robert Wilson is doing the Priority One Bank/Mississippi Scoreboard predictions column each week during the high school football season on teams from Hinds, Madison, and Rankin County. Wilson had an 20-9 record last week (69.0 percent) and has a 156-49 record (76.0 percent) for the season.

            Hartfield (9-0) at Jackson Prep (7-1)

       Hartfield is coming off an emotional, MAIS Class 6A conference win over Madison-Ridgeland Academy.

       Talented sophomore Bralan Womack – who has six SEC offers, including two-time defending national champion Georgia – was one of the brightest stars for the Hawks. He returned two kickoffs for touchdowns, scored two more receiving TDs and made a spectacular touchdown-saving interception at the Hartfield 2 with 16 seconds to play to clinch the 63-56 victory. MRA senior quarterback and Southern Miss commitment John White scrambled outside the pocket around midfield and saw sophomore wide receiver Will Bizot running toward the goal line, but Womack leaped in front of Bizot and made the remarkable catch.

       Senior running back and Southern Miss commitment Reed Jesiolowski, who injured his shoulder and wore a brace in the second half, also had an outstanding game. He had 187 yards on 24 carries, including an 85-yard run for a TD in the fourth quarter, and a 26-yard catch with 3 minutes to play. He went over the 1,000-yard mark Friday for the season and now has 1,152 rushing yards and 17 TDs. Jeliosowski is expected to play Friday.

       Junior wide receiver-defensive back Kenzy West caught seven passes for 105 yards and one TD, ran for a 44-yard TD, intercepted one pass, and broke up several other passes.

       Hartfield was able to defeat MRA despite one of its best athletes – senior linebacker and Southern Miss commitment Chris Jones – missing the second half after injuring his knee in the first half. Jones was also used as a running back in the first quarter and had 48 yards on five carries (9.6 yards per carry) and scored the game’s first TD. Jones is questionable for this week’s game.

       In addition to Womack and West, sophomore linebacker Coleman Williams had a team-high 10 tackles and two interceptions for Hartfield.

       Prep bounced back from its only loss – a 20-3 decision at undefeated MHSAA Class 6A West Jones – with a 49-0 conference victory at Presbyterian Christian School in Hattiesburg.

       Junior quarterback Billy Puckett completed 14 of 17 passes for 296 yards and five TDs, two to his brother and senior tight end Peyton Puckett, and one each to juniors Gardner Young and Holden Heigle. Billy Puckett and junior Will Gideon, who had a team-high 73 rushing yards, ran for one TD each.

       For the season, senior defensive lineman Andy Brown and senior linebacker Thomas Cross lead Prep with 46 and 43 tackles respectively. Senior cornerback Micah Stallworth has two interceptions, two blocked field goals and one caused fumble and one fumble recovery.

       Prep defeated Hartfield twice last season on its way to the MAIS Class 6A state championship in Alabama High School Sports Hall of Fame member Doug Goodwin’s first year at Prep. Goodwin, who won 243 games in his 27-year high school coaching career in Alabama, has lost only one MAIS game in his two years at Prep, a 26-14 decision to MRA in the regular season last year.

       Hartfield coach Craig Bowman – in his seventh season as a head coach, fourth at Hartfield – will go for his third straight win against a veteran coach with 200-plus wins, defeating Lafayette coach Anthony Hart and MRA coach Herbert Davis over the past two weeks. Bowman has won 44 games in his career.

       In addition to Goodwin, Prep defensive coordinator Nick Brewer has been running the defense at Prep for the majority of the time since he arrived to help Mississippi Hall of Fame member and former National Coach of the Year Ricky Black in 1999. It will be interesting to see how Brewer, known for slowing down even the most explosive offenses, defends the talented Hartfield offense.

       Brewer and Prep’s defense limited Hartfield to 159 total yards in a 10-7 win in the 6A state semifinals at Prep. Jesioslowski only gained 40 yards on 19 carries and didn’t score a TD.

       Hartfield’s talented 6-foot-3, 250-pound junior defensive lineman and Madison St. Joseph transfer Reginald Vaughn – one of the best at his position in the Class of 2025 in the country with many Division I offers, including six from the SEC (Ole Miss, Mississippi State, two-time defending national champion Georgia, Auburn, LSU, and Tennessee) – will be playing with a heavy heart. His father, Reginald, passed away this weekend. He was 47 years old.

       Hartfield has a tough task, being able to come down off the high emotional victory over MRA and prepare to play an equally dangerous Prep team away from home in a hostile environment.

       Jackson Prep 17, Hartfield 14.

       In other games (winners in bold):

Callaway (3-4) at Ridgeland (2-4), Thursday

Germantown (4-3) at Tupelo (5-2), Thursday

Murrah (5-2) at Madison Central (3-3), Thursday

Raymond (3-3) at Jim Hill (2-5), Thursday

Brandon (4-2) at Oak Grove (6-0)

Canton (1-5) at Yazoo City (0-6)

Canton Academy (5-3) at Riverfield, La. (2-6)

Central Hinds Academy (5-3) at Tri-County Academy (7-1)

Clinton (1-5) at Starkville (5-2)

East Rankin Academy (2-6) at Oak Hill Academy (3-5)

Florence (4-3) at North Pike (2-4)

Hattiesburg (4-2) at Forest Hill (4-3), South Jackson Field

Jackson Academy (6-2) at Madison-Ridgeland Academy (5-3)

Lanier (2-5) at McComb (7-0)

Meridian (3-4) at Northwest Rankin (5-1)

Noxapater (3-4) at Velma Jackson (6-0)

Park Place Christian (2-5) at Kemper Academy (3-5)

Pearl (5-1) at Petal (3-3)

Pearl River Central (0-6) at Terry (4-3)

Pelahatchie (1-6) at Pisgah (2-5)

Presbyterian Christian (2-5) at Madison St. Joseph (4-3)

Provine (5-2) at Brookhaven (2-4)

St. Andrew’s (4-3) at Puckett (5-2)

Southeast Lauderdale (1-6) at McLaurin (1-6)