By Robert Wilson
Leake senior quarterback George Wilcox has only two college offers – Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College and Itawamba CC – but the 6-foot-3, 245-pounder should be getting more looks after Thursday night’s state championship game.
Wilcox – who has one of the strongest arms in Mississippi – not only used his passing ability but also his running ability as he produced 403 yards – 219 passing yards and a career-high 184 rushing yards – and three touchdowns to lead Leake to a 25-24 victory over two-time defending MAIS state champion Tri-County for the Class 3A, Division I state title before an estimated 3,500 at Jackson Academy’s Brickyard in Northeast Jackson.
Even with Wilcox’s outstanding performance, Leake needed a 27-yard field goal by junior Caden Stovall on the game’s final play to secure the victory.
Leake – ranked No. 2 in MAIS Class 3A by MaxPreps – finished 10-2 and averaged a 52-18 loss to Tri-County in the next to last regular season game. Leake won its second state championship in school history. The Rebels finished 13-0 and won its only state title in 2020. They have four runner-up finishes (1974, 1975, 2010 and last season).
Tri-County – ranked No. 1 in Class 3A by MaxPreps – finished 10-2 and broke an eight-game winning streak. The Rebels had won 29 of the last 30 games (the only loss to Jackson Prep earlier this season), won 35 of the last 36 MAIS games, and won three state championships and one state runner-up finish in the past four years going into Thursday’s game. Tri-County has a remarkable 61-5 record – a 92.4 winning percentage – in the last five years going into Thursday.
Wilcox carried the ball more times Thursday – 38 – than he had in the 11 games this season – 33 – and gained more yards – 184 to 110. Unlike the other games this season, Leake’s plan from the start to was run Wilcox often and it was Tri-County job to stop him. He had 171 yards on 24 carries and two TDs in the first half as Leake took a 22-8 lead into halftime.
Tri-County rallied in the second half and took a 24-22 lead on the strength of two Cooper Johnson TD passes (the first one a 22-yarder to Crews Albritton in the third quarter and the second one a 30-yarder to Cotton Jones with 8:07 to play in the fourth quarter) and a two-point conversion pass from Johnson to Albritton after the first score and a two-point conversion run by Johnson. The last TD finished a 95-yard, nine-play drive.
Leake was driving for the go-ahead score but on fourth and 21 Johnson made a tackle three yards short of a first down at the Tri-County 22 and Tri-County took over with six minutes to play in the fourth quarter.
Leake stopped Tri-County and forced a punt and Leake took over at its own 31 with 2:05 to play.
Wilcox completed four consecutive passes (the first two to Stovall for 7 and 4 yards, one to junior Easton Page for 8 yards and one to junior Gage Warren for 8 yards) for first down at the Tri-County 33 with 40 seconds to play.
Then Wilcox ran for 9 yards, completed a 12-yard pass to Page and Wilcox ran for 6 yards to the Tri-County 7 with 16 seconds to play.
Wilcox ran for 2 yards to the Tri-County 5 to set up Stovall’s winning kick. He made the kick, but Leake was called for a false start, then Tri-County called timeout.
Junior Tanner Walsworth snapped the ball to holder Easton Page and Stovall kicked it through the uprights to set off a celebration by Leake’s players, coaches and fans.
In addition to Wilcox, Stovall, a junior, caught seven passes for 75 yards, Page caught seven passes of 69 yards, and Warren caught six passes for 46 yards. Page had a team-high 50 catches for 1,253 yards and 18 TDs going into the game this season.
The offensive line of left tackle John David Thomas, left guard JonWyatt King, center Connor Moore right guard Tanner Walsworth and right tackle Lane Stewart did an outstanding job of protecting Wilcox, who was only sacked once and didn’t get hurried most of the night, and also giving him running lanes to run through.
Senior linebacker Cody Kemp, who caught Wilcox’s TD pass, led Leake with seven tackles. Warren, who doubles as a defensive back, had six tackles and an interception for a 25-yard return to stop a Tri-County scoring threat.
Leake was ready this time for Tri-County.
“The first time we played them they were more physical than we were, they played really hard and they are good football team,” said Leake coach Brian Pickens, who won his 188th game in 24 seasons at Leake. “It says a lot about their coaching staff by how hard their kids play. You have to match their intensity and match their physicality. I didn’t feel like after that game we had done that. During the bye week in the playoffs, we had some of our most physical practices during the year. It showed up on the field against Washington and it definitely showed up tonight.”
Pickens loved Wilcox’s performance.
“George is such a competitive kid,” Pickens said. “A lot of people were shocked about him running the football so well, but I’ve seen that he was a 10th grader. He ran it well in junior high. Some nights as a 10th grader, he was our main run threat. We didn’t run him early in the season because he is vital to our success what he can do throwing the football. We don’t showcase his running ability until we get to the playoffs. We did a little bit in the semifinals, but we felt like we could put him back there and make him more a run-throw dual threat. We all knew he could do it. He enjoys doing that. We felt like we were going to focus on that this week.”
Pickens believed in Stovall.
“Caden is a great kicker,” Pickens said. “He is also a good receiver. He was out last time we played Tri-County. It hurt us not having him as that inside receiver last game, but also his kicking ability. At Canton Academy, he kicked a 40-yard field goal and he pulled a muscle in his leg. He is such a threat if we can get any where in striking distance. We were in his chip shot range. He is money for extra points and he didn’t kick from much more than an extra point. I learned a long time ago you don’t say anything to a kicker. You let him do his thing.“
Wilcox and his teammates were motivated after the lopsided loss to Tri-County during the regular season.
“We were embarrassed when we were beaten by them the first time so we had an extra chip on our shoulder for sure,” Wilcox said. “God has given me the ability and my verse of the day today was Colossians 3:17 (Do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus). I read that and knew I had to leave it all on the field tonight no matter what. Tri-County did a great job of taking away our deep passing game, which gave us numbers in the box, which allowed our o-line to dominate the game and open up holes. It was an amazing feeling (to win the state championship) All glory to God. It’s been an amazing ride and being able to finish it the way we did amazing.”
Wilcox had completed 56.2 percent of his passes for 2,649 yards (fourth best in Mississippi, according to MaxPreps) with 33 TDs (tied for third best in Mississippi) this season going into Thursday’s game. He passed for a Mississippi-best 3,623 yards and 41 TDs last season as a junior. Wilcox threw for a career-high 542 yards and nine TDs (one short of the Mississippi record) in a win over Silliman, La., two years ago as a sophomore.
“Playing them again was all the motivation we needed,” Stovall said. “They beat us in the regular season, and that stuck with us all year. We felt like we didn’t play our best that night, and getting another go at them for a state championship was everything. All week, we talked about getting our revenge and we did.”
Stovall’s kick put them over the top. He had made four field goals this season before the winning kick Thursday night.
“When I went out for the field goal, I was nervous, but it was a good kind of nervous,” Stovall said. “But I was excited. I kept telling myself, ‘You’ve done this a hundred times. Just trust yourself.’ Once the ball left my foot, I knew I done it. All that pressure just lifted at once.”
Pickens and Stovall’s teammates gave him encouragement.
“Coach Pickens tells me all the time about kickers make you feel like you’re in the NFL,” Stovall said. “Before I went out to kick, Coach said you do this all the time, go be an NFL kicker. George said, ‘we’ve talked about doing this all week. Go do it kid.’ And Easton (Stovall’s holder) said, ‘I’m going to get it down, you just kick it.’”
Leake’s win Thursday was a major contrast from Tri-County’s win in the regular season. Senior running back Hayden Hunt came back from nagging ankle injuries to run for 235 yards and four TDs and a two-point conversion and senior defensive back Payton Patridge had a team-high 14 tackles and one interception to lead Tri-County to the victory. After a 6-6 tie after one quarter, Tri-County dominated the regular season game, outscoring Leake 24-6 in the second quarter to take a commanding, 30-12 lead at halftime. The Rebels increased the lead to 38-12 after three quarters.
Tri-County coach Philip Wasson was trying to win his sixth state championships (he had won three at Tri-County and two at Washington School) and will be playing in his eighth championship game in his 20th career season.
Johnson completed 7 of 12 passes for 196 yards and two TDs and Hunt had 72 yards on 19 carries and one TD. Patridge had three catches for 81 yards, Albritton two for 60 yards and one TD and senior Cotton Jones two for 55 yards and one TD.
Senior Luke Power had a team-high 12 tackles and sophomore Cade Hunt, Hayden’s brother, had 10.
“Last night was tough,” Wasson said. “I’m proud of how hard our players played. We made a lot of plays on both sides of the ball. This season was a great season for our team and our seniors. The coaches and players did great all year and made our community proud. We did not win the last game and they will hurt for a while.”
“I feel like we didn’t quite play our best in the first half, but we quickly turned it around in the second half and dominated,” Hayden Hunt said. “I’m proud of the way our team fought the whole game. It just didn’t quite go our way.”
