Veteran sportswriter and high school football expert Robert Wilson is doing the Germany Law Firm, PLLC/Mississippi Scoreboard predictions column each week during the high school football season on teams from Hinds, Madison, and Rankin County. Wilson had a 3-2 record (60 percent) last week and has a 243-76 record (76.1 percent) this season.
By Robert Wilson
Brandon (7-5) at Gulfport (10-2), (livestream on brandonbulldogs.live and 106.3 FM and 1400 AM on radio).
Brandon and interim head coach Eugene Clinton pulled off their second straight MHSAA Class 7A playoff victory on the road last week with a 30-27 overtime win at Oak Grove, a team Brandon had lost to 20-7 during the regular season at Oak Grove.
The Oak Grove regular season loss was the first game for Clinton, a former Provine High and Mississippi State wide receiver and 10-year Brandon assistant who was promoted to interim head coach when first-year Brandon head coach Lance Pogue resigned.
After the Oak Grove loss, Clinton has led Brandon to four consecutive victories, 17-10 over Pearl and 40-13 over Meridian to finish the regular season then 13-10 over Ocean Springs in the first round of the playoffs and last week’s overtime victory over Oak Grove in the quarterfinal round.
Oak Grove led 24-13 in the fourth quarter before Brandon rallied for 11 points in the last six minutes for a 24-24 tie and send the game into overtime.
Brandon senior Jase Eldridge – who is 5 for 5 on field goal attempts in the playoffs and was 2 for 2 Friday night – made a 34-yard field goal with 6 minutes to play to cut the lead to 24-16.
Then junior quarterback Sladen Shack completed a 55-yard TD pass to senior wide receiver Duke Johnson and added the tying 2-point conversion with a pass from Shack to senior Reece Quinn with 4 minutes to play.
In overtime, Oak Grove lost five yards on first down, then two incompletion passes set up a 32-yard field goal to give Oak Grove a 27-24 lead.
Brandon senior running back Carlos Campbell Jr. – who didn’t dress out in the first half due to an injury but talked the coaching staff into letting him dress out in the second half – gained seven yards on first down on Brandon’s first play in overtime to set up second and goal from 3. Junior running back Tyson Robinson scored when he took a direct snap, ran up the middle and carried a couple of would be tacklers into the end zone for the winning score.
Robinson – the No. 4 running back and the No. 42 player in the country in the Class of 2027 by 247 Sports who has 19 Division I offers, including 10 from the SEC – gained 84 yards on 18 carries.
Shack completed 13 of 17 passes for 105 yards and one TD and one two-point conversion.
Senior defensive back Lahare Bolls had the other TD on a 56-yard interception return.
This is the first time Gulfport has played in the state semifinals since 1999.
Gulfport is led by senior running back Cooper Crosby, who has gained 1,443 yards and scored 28 TDs and caught 43 passes for 558 yards and seven TDs this season. Senior quarterback Parker Nettles has passed for 2,294 yards and 21 TDs. Gulfport has three receivers with more than 500 yards (junior Javious Hales has 644 yards, junior Camden Morgan 620 yards and senior Cooper Crosby 558 yards).
Metro Jackson high school football fans are familiar with Gulfport coach Blake Pennock. He was the offensive coordinator at Clinton when All-American Cam Akers led the Arrows to a 14-1 record and state championship in 2016. Since his days in Clinton, Pennock was head coach at Ocean Springs and had a 32-5 record from 2020-2022 then left for Gulfport. He lost to Brandon 34-31 in the semifinals in 2022 in his last game at Ocean Springs.
Pennock has a 23-11 record in three seasons at Gulfport, and lost first round playoff games in each his first two seasons.
But this season, Gulfport defeated Northwest Rankin 45-7 and Petal 45-10 in the first two rounds and has won nine games in a row. Gulfport’s only loss was a 25-24 decision Sept. 19 to Petal at Gulfport.
Brandon gave Gulfport its first shutout since 2020 with a 42-0 win last season at Gulfport.
Brandon gets a third straight playoff win on the road and makes it to its third straight state championship game and fourth in the last five years.
Brandon 21, Gulfport 20
Ridgeland (11-1) at Warren Central (10-2)
Ridgeland gets a chance to avenge its only loss of the season Friday when it travels to Vicksburg.
Warren Central defeated Ridgeland 21-14 Oct. 10 at Warren Central.
Ridgeland has won six games in a row since then and scored 40 or more points in five of those games, including last week’s 55-45 victory over Neshoba Central in the MHSAA Class 6A quarterfinals.
This is a matchup between two of the Mississippi’s best running quarterbacks.
Ridgeland senior DK Wallace has run for 1,247 yards and 19 TDs and passed for 843 yards and 10 TDs.
Warren Central junior quarterback Nash Morgan – son of Warren Central head coach Josh Morgan – ran for 1,173 yards (an average of 10.3 yards per carry) and 21 TDs and has completed 63.2 percent of his passes for 1,225 yards and 10 TDs.
Ridgeland senior Jordan Wright as a team-high 145 tackles – 25 tackles for loss – and 2.5 sacks.
Junior Fabian Davenport has a team-high 104 tackles – 12 tackles for loss – and five sacks.
In addition to Wallace, Ridgeland has two more running backs with more than 1,000 yards – junior Ashton Gorden with 1,321 yards and 15 TDs and junior Johnathan Henningburg with 1,085 yards and eight TDs.
Coach Todd McDaniel has done an outstanding job rebuilding Ridgeland. He won three games in his first year, six last season and now 11. He coached at Vicksburg for three seasons before coming to Ridgeland. McDaniel had a 39-12 record at Hazlehurst from 2014-2017 and took Wingfield to only its second playoff appearance in school history in 2007.
Josh Morgan has a 121-72 record in 16 seasons at Warren Central. This is his second time to reach the semifinals. He lost to Grenada 23-10 last season.
Lum Wright built Warren Central into a football power in the 1970s and 80s, winning 81.2 percent of his games from 1971-84. Robert Morgan, Josh’s father and highly successful Lum Wright’s longtime assistant, took over for Wright and coached Warren Central from 1985-2003. Josh’s older brother, Rob Morgan, is the Warren Central offensive coordinator. Josh Morgan played safety at Mississippi State from 1998-2002. Rob Morgan played quarterback at MSU from 1996-98.
Josh and Rob’s brother, Brett, is the head coach at West Point, who many consider the best team in Mississippi and defending MHSAA Class 5A state champion. West Point has been in an amazing nine state championship games and won five of them. Brett is in his third year and has a 23-3 record and is one win away from a 10th straight state title for West Point.
Warren Central 35, Ridgeland 28
