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 21-6 record (77.8 percent) last week and has a 126-47 record (72.8 percent) this season.
By Robert Wilson
Jackson Prep (4-3) at Jackson Academy (5-1)
A lot has changed since Prep defeated JA 37-0 in the MAIS Class 6A semifinals last season at Flowood.
Prep’s 36 seniors graduated and only three starters are back for this season and the Patriots had rough start, losing their first two games before winning four of the last five, including a 40-14 victory over two-time reigning MAIS state champion Hartfield Academy.
Only twice in the past 20 seasons – 8-5 in 2021 when Coach Tyler Turner replaced Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame member and former National High School Football Coach of the Year Ricky Black and 10-4 in 2023 in Coach Doug Goodwin’s second season — has Prep lost four games or more in a season.
The combination of promising young talent, an experienced coaching staff (head coach Doug Goodwin has won 272 games in his 31-year coaching career, including a 38-9 record in four years at Prep and is a member of the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame and longtime defensive coordinator and MAIS Hall of Fame member Nick Brewer) and the fact that Prep has owned this series (winning 16 of the last 17 games and leads the series 45-15) has Prep fans thinking they will continue to rule in this game where brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers come from both schools, the players and coaches go to church together and live in the same neighborhoods.
This year’s version of the Raiders might be the best team since JA won three straight state championships from 2009-2011 under Coach David Sykes.
JA coach David Duggan – in his second year as head coach with 38 years of college assistant coaching experience – has a team that is loaded with talent with a handful of players with Division I offers.
There’s 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), senior defensive lineman and Tennessee commitment Dereon Albert (No. 8 player in Mississippi and No. 28 defensive tackle in the Class of 2026), senior linebacker and Tennessee commitment TJ White (No. 3 player in Mississippi and No. 5 linebacker in the country in the Class of 2026), and senior wide receiver and North Carolina commitment O’Mari Johnson (rated No. 17 player in Mississippi and No. 35 athlete in the country).
Moss, Albert and White are members of the Performance Therapy/Mississippi Scoreboard Preseason Metro Jackson Football Elite 11 Team.
No school in Mississippi has three players in the Top 20 in the Class of 2026 like JA and only defending MHSAA Class 7A state champion Tupelo has three in the Top 24.
JA senior quarterback Josef Walker is rated as the No. 7 dual threat quarterback in Mississippi in the Class of 2026 by qbhitlist.com. He has completed 73.7 percent of his passes for 980 yards and 9 touchdowns without an interception and ran for 176 yards and 2 TDs while playing about half of the game in the majority of the games this season. Walker is the cousin of two NFL players, former Heisman Trophy winner, No. 1 overall draft pick and current Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray and Devin Duvernay, who is a two-time Pro Bowl wide receiver for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
JA senior wide receiver Jayden Hollins has a team-high 425 receiving yards and four TDs and also returned a punt for an 83-yard TD against Hartfield this season.
JA senior defensive back Carter Mathison is second on the team behind White with 39 tackles and senior defensive back Baird Kennedy has a team-high three interceptions.
Outstanding seniors on last year’s Prep team like quarterback Billy Puckett, wide receiver-defensive back Major Quin, and offensive linemen Cole Allen and Matthew Parker are playing football at Mississippi State, Air Force Academy, Duke, and Vanderbilt respectively. In addition, star linebacker Tre Bryant is playing baseball at the University of California.
Prep junior Luke Essay has completed 63.2 percent of his passes for 1,236 yards and 11 TDs with only 1 interception. Junior Wade Smith has a team-high 654 rushing yards and eight TDs. Sophomore wide receiver Josh Parker has a team-high 492 receiving yards on 22 catches and two TDs. Junior linebacker Brogan McCluskey leads Prep with 61 tackles and 8.7 tackles for loss. Junior linebacker Gaines Reeves – nephew of Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves – has a team-high four sacks.
JA’s only win during the 17-game losing span to Prep was in 2020 when JA scored 21 points in the fourth quarter to defeat Prep 28-21 in the Class 6A state semifinals in Black’s last game at Prep.
The Raiders will get another one Friday night.
Jackson Academy 28, Jackson Prep 14.
In other games (winning team in ALL CAPS):
Canton (3-2) at CALLAWAY (3-3), Thursday, North Jackson Field
CLINTON (3-2) at Murrah (1-5), Thursday, South Jackson Field
HATTIESBURG (3-2) at Jim Hill 1-5), Thursday, Hughes Field
PELAHATCHIE (2-4) at Newton (1-5), Thursday
Puckett (1-5) at LAKE (3-3), Thursday
QUITMAN (2-4) at Pisgah (4-2), Thursday
CANTON ACADEMY (1-5) at North Delta (1-5)
Clinton Christian Academy (1-5) at PARK PLACE CHRISTIAN ACADEMY (2-4)
French Camp (0-6) at EAST RANKIN ACADEMY (4-3)
Lamar School (6-1) at HARTFIELD ACADEMY (1-5)
McLaurin (0-6) at MAGEE (5-1)
Pearl (1-4) at MERIDIAN (2-3)
Provine (2-4) at LANIER (6-0), Hughes Field
Raymond (2-4) at RICHLAND (4-2)
Ridgeland (5-0) at WARREN CENTRAL (3-2)
St. Andrew’s (2-4) at SOUTHEAST LAUDERDALE (2-4)
STARKVILLE (4-1) at Germantown (3-2)
TERRY (5-0) at Forest Hill (1-5), South Jackson Field
TRI-COUNTY ACADEMY (5-1) at Madison St. Joseph (1-5)
VELMA JACKSON (3-3) at Kemper County (1-5)
West Memphis, Ark. (2-4) at CENTRAL HINDS ACADEMY (4-3)
