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 23-7 record (76.7 percent) last week and has a 196-59 record (76.9 percent) this season.
By Robert Wilson
Lanier (9-0) at Cleveland Central (4-3)
The Lanier football team and second-year head coach and former NFL defensive lineman Tommy Kelly continue to make history.
Lanier defeated Florence 34-28 last week to improve its record to 9-0 with games at Cleveland Central this week and Vicksburg at home next week to finish the regular season.
Lanier would be the first Jackson Public School football team to finish the regular season undefeated on the field since Provine finished 10-0 in 2004. The Rams, coached by Willie Collins (who also coached Kelly), went on to defeat Ridgeland 25-0 in the first round and lost to Oxford 16-13 in the second round of the MHSAA Class 4A playoffs.
Callaway won all 12 of its regular season games – it lost to Canton but won by forfeit due to an ineligible player – then won two playoff games before losing to Oxford in the MHSAA Class 5A semifinals in 2013.
Kelly – the former Provine, Hinds Community College and Mississippi star who played 11 years in the NFL, nine with the Oakland Raiders – has made great strides in the Lanier program since taking over before last season.
Kelly – who was named the Performance Therapy/Mississippi Scoreboard Metro Jackson Football Coach of the Year – led Lanier to a huge turnaround season in his first year as head coach.
He won eight games, five more than Lanier did in the previous season, one more than the last three seasons combined, the first winning season since 2019, the most wins in a season since 2018 and won the first playoff for the school in 37 years.
The 6-foot-6, 310-pound Kelly was a problem for opposing offensive lineman whenever he was in the game in the NFL. He was so good the Oakland Raiders signed Kelly to the largest contract ever given to a defensive tackle at that time in 2008, a seven-year, $50.5 million contract. He ranks ninth all-time in Raiders history with 34 sacks in his nine seasons in Oakland.
After being released by the Raiders in 2013, Kelly played with the New England Patriots in 2013 and the Arizona Cardinals in 2014 before retiring before the 2015 season.
Since his retirement, Kelly was a defensive line coach for seven seasons and defensive coordinator for five of those seasons at Provine and the defensive line coach at Copiah-Lincoln CC before going to Lanier.
Last season, Lanier defeated Newton 54-6 in Kelly’s debut, then opened up eyes across Jackson Public Schools with a 16-6 win over Provine, Kelly’s alma mater, the first time Lanier had beaten Provine in 35 games, and for the first time since 1986 when Kelly was five years old.
Not since Coach Walter Griffin led Lanier to an 8-6 win in 1986, had Lanier defeated Provine. The two rivals have played every year since then except for two seasons (1998 and 1999).
Lanier defeated Sumrall 28-21 historic in the first round of the MHSAA Class 4A playoffs. Lanier lost a heartbreaker to Forest 23-20 in the second round when Forest completed a long touchdown pass with 30 seconds to play for the winning score.
Lanier had lost seven consecutive first round playoff games and had not won a playoff game since a 28-21 win over Tupelo in the first round of the Class 5A playoffs in 1987. Lanier lost to Greenville 28-7 in the second round. Lanier also won a playoff game in 1986 – its first playoff appearance in school history – with a 27-8 win over Southaven before losing to Clarksdale 12-7 in the second round.
And this season, Lanier is doing even better. The Bulldogs – who moved up from Class 4A to Class 5A – returned 11 starters, four on offense and seven on defense.
The biggest star on offense is sophomore running back Bailey, who has 1,730 yards on 199 carries – 8.7 yards per carry – and scored 16 touchdowns this season. He is the only player to be named a Junction Deli/Mississippi Scoreboard Metro Jackson Football Player of the Week twice this season. Quarterback Darrell Roberts has run for 889 yards on 63 carries – 14.1 yards per carry – and scored nine TDs and passed for 415 yards and three TDs.
Kelly’s son, Jamison, is one of the best athletes on the team. He has gained 296 yards on 38 carries, a 7.8-yard average, and scored seven TDs and caught seven passes for 94 yards and one TD. Kelly also starts at defensive back.
Lanier’s defense – Kelly doubles as the defensive coordinator – allowed only one TD in five of its first six games.
Lanier is 3-0 in Class 5A, Region 2 and Cleveland Central is 2-1.
Look for the Bulldogs and Kelly to keep rolling.
Lanier 22, Cleveland Central 20
In other games (winners in ALL CAPS):
Central Holmes Christian School (4-4) at CHRIST COVENANT SCHOOL (5-4), Thursday
EAST RANKIN ACADEMY (6-4) at Richland (5-4), Thursday
FLORENCE (3-5) at Provine (2-7), Thursday, South Jackson Field
MENDENHALL (4-4) at Raymond (2-7), Thursday
OXFORD (7-1) at Murrah (1-8), Thursday, Hughes Field
Park Place Christian Academy (4-4) at MCLAURIN (0-9), Thursday
Puckett (1-8) at PELAHATCHIE (4-5), Thursday
TRI-COUNTY ACADEMY (8-1) at Riverfield, La. (2-6), Thursday
UNION (9-0) at Pisgah (5-4), Thursday
BRANDON (3-5) at Pearl (3-5)
Central Hinds (5-5) at LEAKE ACADEMY (3-5)
Discovery Christian (1-8) at CLINTON CHRISTIAN (2-7)
FOREST HILL (1-8) at Jim Hill (1-8), Hughes Field
GERMANTOWN (5-3) at Clinton (4-4)
Greenville (4-4) at CANTON (3-5)
Madison Central (4-4) at STARKVILLE (6-2)
MADISON-RIDGELAND ACADEMY (8-1) at Simpson Academy (3-6)
Manchester (1-8) at CANTON ACADEMY (3-6)
Oak Forest, La. (4-5) at JACKSON PREP (6-4)
OAK GROVE (6-3) at Northwest Rankin (5-3)
Pillow Academy (4-4) at JACKSON ACADEMY (8-1)
QUITMAN (5-4) at St. Andrew’s (2-7)
RIDGELAND (7-1) at Neshoba Central (4-4)
St. Aloysius (4-4) at MADISON ST. JOSEPH (1-8)
Starkville Academy (6-3) at HARTFIELD ACADEMY (4-5)
TERRY (7-1) at George County (3-5)
WARREN CENTRAL (6-2) at Callaway (5-4), South Jackson Field
