JACKSON – Three fantastic finishes decided in the final minute highlighted MHSAA football championship games at Mississippi Veterans Stadium. 6A – Oak Grove 29, Oxford 28 The two best teams in the state played the best game of the season. Oak Grove quarterback Kabe Barnett ran for a touchdown on fourth down with seven seconds left, then threw a 2-point conversion pass to Taylor Moore, giving the Warriors their second state championship. The result was a reversal of a year ago when Oxford overcame a 21-3 halftime deficit to defeat Oak Grove 31-21 in the title game. Oak Grove finished 13-0. Oxford (12-1) saw its 25-game winning streak snapped. 4A – Louisville 15, Poplarville 14 Louisville also won with a TD and a two-point conversion in the final minute. With 36 seconds showing on the clock, Jace Hedspeth connected with Jarvis Rush on a 24-yard TD pass and Jaden Triplett ran for the two pointer. Hedspeth earned game MVP honors passing for 276 yards The victory kept Louisville perfect in 10 championship games. Poplarville's Wing-T offense produced 263 yards on the ground, but the Hornets attempted only one pass and it was incomplete. 1A – Lumberton 20, Biggersville 14 Rodney Parker threw a 42-yard TD pass to K'nylan Willis with 24 second left to give Lumberton the victory. The winning score came 34 seconds after Biggersville tied the game on a two-yard run by Goldman Butler. Lumberton finished 12-1 with 12 straight victories after an opening game loss to Bay Springs. Robert Henry, two-time 1A Mr. Football for the Panthers, closed out his high school career running for 111 yards and one TD. Biggersville suffered it first loss after 13 victories including a shutout of two-time defending champion Nanih Waiya in the North State final. 5A – West Jones 33, West Point 27 West Point's four-year run as state champion came to an end when a fourth down from the West Jones 42 fell incomplete with a minute left. Alan Follis passed for 215 yards and ran for 63 and a touchdown for West Jones. Kentrel Pruitt scored three TDs for the Mustangs, including a four-yard run in the fourth quarter for the winning score. Cameron Young has three TD runs for West Point. West Jones won its last eight games to finish 13-2. West Point is 10-4. 3A – Magee 49, Noxubee County 26 It was a shootout between quarterbacks Chandler Pittman of Magee and Christaad Rupert of Noxubee County. Pittman, 3A Mr. Football, totaled 317 yards and five TDs running and passing. Rupert passed for 308 yards and two TDs and ran for 43 yards and one score. Magee's offensive explosion came against a Noxubee County defense that had four shutouts and allowed only 98 points in 12 previous games. Magee capped off a perfect season to finish 13-0. Noxubee County is 11-2, the only other loss against West Point. 2A – Taylorsville 42, Calhoun City 0 Ty Keyes closed out a sensational high school career that included quarterbacking the Tartars to three championships in four years by completing 13 of 20 passing for 177 yards, with three touchdowns, and running for a TD. Taylorsville had 258 yards on the ground, led by Jeffery Pittman with 12 carries for 162 yards. Keyes finished with a career total of 14,515 passing yards. That's 623 short of the state record of 15,138 accumulated by Myles Brennan during three years as St. Stanislaus quarterback (2014-16). Keyes also had 2,270 yards on the ground giving him 16,785 yards of total offense, 606 more than Brennan. Taylorsville finished 14-1, including two forfeits. The loss was against West Jones. Calhoun City is 10-3 and had won 10 straight prior to the championship game.
