HATTIESBURG — One of Mississippi’s proudest communities got a little prouder on Friday.
Nanih Waiya claimed the school’s first-ever state championship in football on Friday as the Warriors beat Hollandale Simmons 21-18 at M.M. Roberts Stadium on the campus of Southern Mississippi.
The Warriors finished with a 15-1 record and have won 14 straight games. Hollandale Simmons finishes with a 14-1 record and the loss snaps its 54-game winning streak, which was the longest in the nation.
First-year coach James Courtney had trouble finding the right words to describe his team’s effort after the game.
“It was unbelievable the heart and effort out kids showed,” Courtney said. "We are just a little blue-collar town and athletics are important. We have great support from our community and our administrators. They just had the weight of the world on their shoulders, it seems like. You can’t say enough about them, they are physically tough.”
The Warriors won the game in the second half with a stingy defense. After going up 21-18 with 7:01 left in the third, the Warriors defense was tested time and time again by an explosive Simmons offense. The first test came on the ensuing drive when Simmons quarterback Tyderious Gipson hit a streaking Antavius Rounds up the left sideline. Rounds was pulled down 88 yards later at the 2-yard line by Deon Hickman. The Warriors then held the Blue Devils on four straight plays to turn them over on downs.
“Deon Hickman running him down, no doubt about it, that was the play of the game,” Courtney said. “You can’t say enough about Deon. He’s a kid who has overcome a lot and I’m so proud of his effort, not only as a player but as a person. That play saved the game, no doubt about it.”
The Warriors then put together a 16-play drive that ate up more than eight minutes of clock. The Warriors then turned the ball over on downs with 8:00 left in the game at the Simmons 22.
Simmons then used a pair long pass plays to move inside the Nanih Waiya 10. Then on third and goal from the Nanih Waiya 1, the Blue Devils coughed up the ball and Moore recovered with 4:39 left in the game.
“We talked about Simmons a lot,” Courtney said. “Every 100-yard sprint win the summer, we said that we were going to finish and that’s what our kids did and we ran a bunch of them. We had opportunities last year but it was all those guys. You can’t take anything away from them. They are incredibly tough. You want to get here and play the giant and that’s what we did. We beat the giant. It will take months to realize the impact our kids have had.”
The Warriors ran two minutes off the clock before giving the ball back to Simmons near midfield. But Simmons threw its first interception of the game as Austin Sanders pulled down the pass. The Warriors were able to run out the clock as Moore ripped off a 13-yard run for a first down and the school’s first state title in football.
“I think they had like 47 people in the box most of the time but our kids just stuck to it and did what we do,” Courtney said. “That’s what we talked about, to get what we can get offensively. I’m just proud of them.”
Each team opened the game with a punt. The Warriors then got the ball on their own 43. After a 25-yard pass from Donovan Turner to Coley Taylor put the Warriors in Simmons’ territory, Turner scored two plays later on a 22-yard run with 5:52 left in the first. Jake Kight booted the PAT and the Warriors led 7-0.
The Blue Devils responded with a big play as Aaron Davis took a pitch from Gipson and raced 56 yards for a touchdown. But the two-point conversion attempt failed and the Warriors held on to a 7-6 lead.
The Warriors took the ensuing kick and put together a seven-play, 41-yard drive. Moore capped off the drive with a 7-yard touchdown run with 1:17 left in the first. Kight booted the PAT and the Warriors led 14-6.
Simmons scored back to back touchdowns to take the lead at the half. The first was a 51-yard reverse on fourth down by senior wide receiver C.J. Williams. The try for two failed again and the Warriors held a 14-12 lead with 6:17 left in the first half.
After a Nanih Waiya punt, Simmons struck on a long pass as Gipson hit Rounds on an 87-yard touchdown pass with 2:03 left in the first half. The try for two failed again and the Simmons took an 18-14 lead into the halftime.
After forcing a Simmons punt to start the second half, the Warriors took the lead for good. The Warriors went to their bag of trick plays as Moore hit Taylor on a halfback pass for a 34-yard touchdown pass with 7:01 left in the third quarter.
Simmons actually won the statistical battle, outgaining Nanih Waiya 401 to 332. The Blue Devils had 268 yards passing and 133 yards rushing. The Warriors had 248 yards rushing and 84 passing. The Warriors had 20 first down to 10 for Simmons and had the ball for 31:39 to just 16:21 for Simmons.
Turner, the game’s Most Valuable Player, had 144 yards rushing on 28 carries while Moore had 1-7 yards rushing on 21 carries.Taylor had three caches for 79 yards while Turner was 3-of-5 passing for 50 yards.
On defense, Moore was credited with eight tackles while Taylor had seven stops. Dewonta Carter had six stops while James Resh, Taylor Higginbotham, Deon Hickman, Tyree McClendon and Austin Sanders each had three tackles apiece.
