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 19-5 record (79.2 percent) last week and has a 144-47 record (75.4 percent) this season.

By Robert Wilson

GERMANTOWN (4-3) AT MADISON CENTRAL (3-4) 

Germantown defeated Madison Central in football for the first time in school history last season with a 21-17 victory. Madison Central won the first seven meetings over Germantown, which opened in 2011 but has only been in the same class as Madison Central since 2019. 

Germantown quarterback King White – the 2025 Mississippi Scoreboard Metro Jackson Player of the Year – led the Mavericks to a come-from-behind victory. He ran for a 3-yard touchdown with 4 minutes to play of the winning score. King passed for 137 yards and ran for 111 yards and two TDs. Mikey Johnson caught five passes for 111 yards. 

The Mavericks go for a second straight victory Friday night.

White and Johnson are playing college football at East Central Community College and Jackson State respectively, but Germantown has plenty of talented returning players.

Junior quarterback Langston Branson has passed for 1,333 yards and nine TDs and ran for 533 yards and 10 TDs. Senior Sy McBeath has gained 720 yards and scored 11 TDs. Junior Bryce Johnson – rated as the No. 19 player in Mississippi in the Class of 2028 by 247 Sports – has caught 37 passes for 616 yards. The offensive line is led by 6-foot-5, 335-pound senior and Southern Miss commitment Everett Turnage and 6-foot, 265-pound senior Wells Higginbotham, both members of the Taste Restaurant/Mississippi Scoreboard Preseason Metro Jackson Elite 11 Team. 

Senior linebacker Jaiden Hulbert has a team-high 89 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, and 4 sacks. Sophomore defensive back Christian Mumford has a team-high seven pass breakups and two interceptions. 

Madison Central junior quarterback Tripp Smith has passed for 1,256 yards and 13 TDs, senior Ashton Williams has a team-high 441 yards and 1 TD, junior Jack Brunini has a team-high seven rushing TDs and senior Tylan Hutchins has caught a team-high 42 passes for 462 yards and five TDs and 253 return yards.

Senior linebacker and Western Kentucky commitment Corey Wiggins – a member of the Preseason Elite Team and rated as the No. 41 player in the Class of 2027 by 247 Sports – has a team-high 103 tackles, 9 tackles for loss, and 2 sacks. Senior Orlander Edwards has a team-high seven sacks. Senior Triston Watkins has a team-high two interceptions. 

Both teams have excellent specialists.

Madison Central senior punter Reid Beach is averaging an amazing 54 yards per punt and senior kicker Ross Hardin Beavers has made 5 of 7 field goal attempts and 17 of 18 extra point attempts and 26 of 33 field goal attempts in his career.

Germantown junior Nate Muzzi has made 6 of 6 field goal attempts this season.

Germantown gets its second straight victory in the series. 

GERMANTOWN 38, MADISON CENTRAL 24

TRI-COUNTY ACADEMY (7-1) at CENTRAL HINDS ACADEMY (7-2)

Tri-County is one of the most successful small school football programs in Mississippi. The Rebels have won 36 of it last 39 games (the only losses to Jackson Prep, twice, and last year’s 25-24 decision to Leake Academy in the MAIS Class 3A state championship game), won three state championships and had two state runner-up finishes in the past five seasons and has a remarkable 68-7 record – a 90.7 winning percentage – in the last six years.

Tri-County has won 14 consecutive district games, dating back to a 21-20 decision to Adams County Christian School in 2022. 

The Rebels are 2-0 in district play so far this year with wins over Washington School 56-21 and Riverfield, La., Academy 48-8.

Tri-County coach Philip Wasson has won five state championships (three at Tri-County and two at Washington) along with three state runner-up finishes in his 21st career season.

Senior quarterback Brady Busby has passed for 1,289 yards and 14 TDs. Junior Cade Hunt has 960 rushing yards and 20 TDs. Senior John Hudson Bates has caught 24 passes for 615 yards and four TDs.

Other than the Prep loss, Tri-County has allowed only eight touchdowns in seven games. Freshman linebacker Landon Utroska has a team-high 43 tackles. Hunt and junior defensive back Evan Goodson have 38 tackles each. Defensive end Crews Albritton has a team-high six sacks.

Central Hinds, under second-year coach Ben Durham, has had a turnaround season, going from a 5-7 year last season to this year’s 7-2 start. The two losses were by a combined three points, 35-34 to Columbia Academy and 22-20 to North Delta School.

Senior Junior Wilson has 1,160 rushing yards and 11 TDs, caught 17 passes for 268 yards and four TDs and has 136 return yards and one TD. He is also second in the team with 68 tackles, and has a team-high 14 tackles for loss, and a team-high seven sacks.

  Wilson – who was the MVP in the 2025 MAIS Futures Game – has offers from Arkansas State, Delta State, Copiah-Lincoln Community College, East Central CC, Hinds CC, Mississippi Gulf Coast CC and Pearl River CC. 

Senior Walt Saums leads the team with 18 catches for 346 yards and five TDs and 71 tackles. 

Before coming to Central Hinds, Durham had been a head coach for 22 seasons with stops at Marshall Academy, (a Class 3A state runner-up finish in 2024), Marvell, Ark. (a Class 2A state runner-up finish in 2019). Briarfield Academy, La., Resurrection Catholic School, and Bluffton High and Lapel High, both in Indiana. He has also been a college assistant coach – running back coach at Indiana State and a defensive back coach at Penn.

Tri-County defeated Central Hinds 50-0 last season at Tri-County. This game won’t be as lopsided, but the Rebels will come away with a victory. Tri-County hasn’t seen many athletes as talented as Wilson this season. 

Tri-County 35, Central Hinds 21

In other games (winning team in ALL CAPS):

Greenville (3-4) at CALLAWAY (3-5), Thursday, Hughes Field

STARKVILLE (5-2) at Murrah (1-7), Thursday, South Jackson Field

Clinton (2-5) at OXFORD (6-1)

EAST WEBSTER (7-1)at Velma Jackson (4-4)

Florence (2-6) at LANIER (7-1), Hughes Field

JEFFERSON DAVIS COUNTY (1-7) at McLaurin (2-6)

LAKE (4-3) at Pisgah (4-4)

MORTON (5-2) at Raymond (1-7)

Northwest Rankin (3-4) at MERIDIAN (4-3)

OAK GROVE (6-1) at Brandon (5-2)

PETAL (7-1) at Pearl (2-6)

Provine (3-5) at HOLMES COUNTY (2-6)

PUCKETT (6-2) at Newton (2-6)

Richland (6-2) at FOREST (5-2)

RIDGELAND (4-3) at Canton (6-1)

SCOTT CENTRAL (5-2) at Pelahatchie (3-5)

TERRY (4-4) at Jim Hill (2-6), North Jackson Field

UNION (3-5) at St. Andrew’s (3-5)

WEST JONES (6-2) at Forest Hill (0-8) (South Jackson Field)

Bayou Academy (5-3) at JACKSON ACADEMY (7-2)

Centreville Academy (3-6) at CANTON ACADEMY (6-3)

CHRIST COVENANT (9-0) at Benton Academy (6-3)

East Rankin (5-4) at PARKLANE ACADEMY (7-2)

Heritage Academy (2-6) at HARTFIELD ACADEMY (4-4)

JACKSON PREP (8-1) at Lamar School (5-3)

PILLOW ACADEMY (6-3) at Madison St. Joseph (1-8)

Simpson Academy (2-7) at MRA (6-2)