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Red River High Bulldog Maurice Hall goes for the tackle as Ferriday High School Trojan Donrick Washington fights for the first down during Friday night’s playoff game in Ferriday.

Five teams remain in hunt for championship

By Matt Burrowes | The Natchez Democrat

Published Monday, November 12, 2007

NATCHEZ — Cathedral and Natchez High saw their seasons come to an end last week.

Cathedral ended their season on a high note defeating West Lincoln 42-7.

The Natchez Bulldogs playoff hopes were snuffed out with their 31-14 loss to Hattiesburg.

Five teams survived the first round of playoffs last week.

Block, WCCA and Jefferson County all were eliminated.

Block was unable to get anything going offensively against Ouachita Christian. They fell 34-7 to OCS.

WCCA couldn’t stop Central Hinds Academy’s rushing game allowing 267 yards. The Rams could only muster 148 yards of offense and fell 24-14 to end their season.

“I’m still trying to figure out what happened,” Jefferson County head coach James Herrington said. “We were up, making a drive to put it away for good. Then we fumbled the ball on the 5. One pass later we were down.”

The Tigers hurt themselves by turning the ball over five times.

“Turnovers killed us,” Herrington said. “We had two interceptions in the first half and three fumbles in the second.

Herrington said his guys took the loss hard but they wouldn’t look down on their season.

“We have to thank God for our success,” he said. “It could have been worse. We showed improvement this year. We’ll regroup and get ready to contend next year.”

Jefferson County finished the season at 8-3.

In MPSA Class AA action, Trinity and Centreville advanced to round two.

Centreville dominated Central Private for the second time this season defeating the Rebels 18-0.

Centreville hosts the 11-1 Copiah Academy Colonels Friday night.

On the other side of the bracket, Trinity squeaked by Riverfield 12-6.

Riverfield didn’t allow Trinity to use their speed on offense to beat them.

Saints running back R.J. Fleming was held to just 29 yards rushing.

The Saints stay at home this week to face an Oak Forest team that destroyed Brookhaven Academy 42-20.

After falling a touchdown behind in the first quarter to Wayne Academy, the Huntington Hounds found a way to win and advance in the Class A playoffs.

Running back Jody Cottongin punched the ball across the goal line from 6 yards out to set up a two-point conversion run to what turned into the winning score.

With the 8-7 victory, the Hounds travel to Raymond to take on Central Hinds.

“The players showed tremendous heart in the win,” Huntington head coach Chad Harkins said. “I’m proud of them.”

Harkins said he felt like Central Hinds was a good match up for his team.

“Their offense is run based,” he said. “We have done a good job of stopping the run all season.”

In other playoff action, Franklin County rode the legs of quarterback Jamie Collins and running back Jordan Hunt to defeat Sumrall 21-3.

Franklin County tallied 305 yards on the ground to advance in the class 3A playoffs.

They host Morton this week. Morton won 46-34 against Hazlehurst last week.

Ferriday High School overcame three turnovers and a powerful Red River running game to win 20-6 and move on to round two of the Louisiana High School Class 2A state playoffs.

Trojan quarterback Kendrick Harris couldn’t get settled in completing only two of his 11 passes.

They will have to regroup this week and get prepared to take on 9-2 St. John.

St. John defeated Loyola Prep 46-44 last week.