By Staff
Eyes for the ball
Kemper County's Eric Hubbard, a 5-foot-10, 266-pound senior lineman, recovered seven fumbles in 2001.
West Lauderdale's Tyler Herrington, a 6-foot, 170-pound senior, had four fumble recoveries.
– Marty Stamper
Kicking straight and true
Newton County's David McConnell, a 6-foot-3, 180-pound senior, led Class 3A in kick scoring with 65 points prior to Friday's game with Collins. McConnell had kicked seven field goals, including a long kick of 53 yards against Morton.
In second place in Class 3A with 61 points was West Lauderdale's Will Moseley, a 6-foot-1, 170-pound senior, with 61. Moseley had 10 field goals with a long kick of 50 yards at Philadelphia.
Winston Academy's Jay McMillin, a 5-foot-10, 175-pound junior, kicked 46 points this fall, making four field goals with a long kick of 40 yards.
– Marty Stamper
Hanging up those points
Eleven of the 20 teams who won in Friday night's quarterfinal round of the Mississippi High School Activities Association football playoffs scored more than 30 points.
The most points scored by any of the losing teams was 31 by Picayune in a 34-31 overtime loss to D'Iberville. Taylorsville scored 30 in a one-point, double-overtime loss to St. John and Louisville scored 28 in a 36-28 loss to Hernando.
Moss Point put up the biggest numbers in a 51-15 win over Biloxi in the Class 5A playoffs. Four other teams scored 40 or more points, while 17 of the losing teams scored 18 points are less.
There were four shutouts, with two of those coming in Class 5A, where Vicksburg rolled past Madison Central 28-0 and Starkville beat Warren Central 21-0.
Austin Bishop
I think I know those guys
When Taylorsville and Bay Springs met each other in the second round of the MHSAA Class 2A playoffs on Nov. 16 it wasn't a matchup between two teams who didn't know each other.
It was the fifth time in three years that the two teams had met and the second time in three years that they had tangled in the playoffs. The Tartars of Taylorsville won the game 29-14 given them a sweep of the two games the teams played this year. THS won the first won 9-6.
In 1999 the two teams split, with Bay Springs beating the Tartars for the South State title, while Taylorsville won the lone 2000 meeting.
By the way, Taylorsville has won 12 straight 7-2A titles.
Austin Bishop
You can't touch this
Wayne Academy and Heidelberg Academy continued their dominating ways in MPSA Division 3-A this year.
The only team to beat either of those teams in league play in recent years has been each other.
This year Sylva-Bay Academy joined in the mix, with its only two league losses being to Heidelberg and Wayne, with the Saints only falling to the Jaguars 21-15.
But the rest of the league was nowhere close to the top three.
If you combined the total points scored by all three of the other teams in the six-team league Kemper Academy, Central Academy and Newton County Academy it would still not be as many as any of the top three.
Wayne has scored 370 in 13 games with one more to go, while Heidelberg hung up 351 points in 11 games and SBA notched 295 points in 10 games. Kemper, Central and Newton combined for 276 points in 30 games.
Austin Bishop
Keeping down the scoring
Despite winning the first dozen football games they played this year on the way to a 12-1 record, the Cougars of Newton County High School only posted one shutout all season. That came against Forest (35-0) in the season opener.
But the defense was consistent. The most points NCHS allowed all year was the 19 to Collins it gave up in Friday night's 19-12 playoff loss.
For the year the Cougars gave up only 141 points in 13 games for an average of 10.8 points per game.
Austin Bishop
Better late than never
The Louisville High School football team had trouble scoring in its first four games of the year, as the Wildcats tallied just 34 combined points on the way to a 1-3 start.
LHS rebounded as the offense began to get it going. In each their first two MHSAA Class 4A playoff games the Wildcats topped the combined point total of those first four games.
Louisville beat Oxford 38-14 and Shannon 44-38, before losing to Hernando 36-28 on Friday night to end the year at 8-5.
Austin Bishop