FLOWOOD &045; You never like to look back at one play in a championship series and wonder what could have been, but Adams Christian Gill Morris couldn’t help it.

Had he called for a bunt in the eighth inning with a runner on second and no outs, who knows what would have happened. Had it worked, it could have changed the entire momentum of series between his Rebels and Jackson Prep Thursday.

Instead, the Rebels dropped Game 1 4-3 and watched Jackson Prep put up five runs in the second to take Game 2, 8-3, and MPSA Class AAA state championship.

The Patriots got a run in the top of the eighth in Game 1 to take the 4-3 lead, but nine-hole hitter Ray Simpson doubled down the left-field line off Prep ace Kyle Moore. Glenn Williams flied out to center, and Dustin Case walked before being forced out at second for the second out of the inning.

Moore got David Trisler to strike out to end the game with Simpson left at third and Timmy Foster at first.

&uot;I should have bunted in the first game,&uot; Morris said. &uot;We got a leadoff double, and my 1, 2 and 3 guys were coming up. We just didn’t do it. I just gave the kid a chance to swing the bat, and it didn’t work out.

&uot;A bunt would have gotten him to third, and a deep ball to short would have scored him. It’s just the decision I made. You win some, and you lose some.&uot;

It gave the Patriots some momentum going into the second game 20 minutes later, although the Rebels were the ones who were fired up to score quickly with their backs to the wall having lost that pivotal first game.

Instead of the Rebels grabbing the momentum first, that game plan worked on behalf of the Patriots. They sent all nine men to the plate in their half of the first off starter Timmy Foster to break the game open early.

&uot;We went up there wanting to win the game in the first three innings,&uot; Prep head coach Trey Bayliss said. &uot;We went up there to swing the bat. He threw it up over the plate a little bit, and we got some good swings on it. They were going to be extra aggressive, hold nothing back. They had nothing to lose.&uot;

The rally off Foster was a stark difference from the last time the sophomore faced Prep. Foster has been probably the hottest pitcher on the Adams Christian staff of late, and he threw well in a five-inning, 15-5 win over Prep back in Natchez at the end of the regular season.

This time, however, Foster couldn’t find a rhythm. JoJo Tann, Joseph Queen and Swayze Waters started it off with singles to fuel the rally.

&uot;I don’t know what happened when we were in Natchez,&uot; said Tann, who scored three runs in Game 2. &uot;It’s amazing. (After losing in the first round two years ago), we decided that wasn’t going to happen again. We were undefeated in the playoffs for two years. We just had a lot of great leaders and a great coach.

&uot;But that was one of the main things we wanted to accomplish &045; win the first three innings. We’re just extremely balanced.&uot;

Waters’ single scored Tann for the first run and moved Queen up to third. Hunter Owen’s flyout to center was deep enough to score Queen, and Wallace McLaurin reached on an error to put runners at first and third again.

Waters scored on a wild pitch, Drew Maddox singled and Tait Hendrix doubled to score McLaurin and Maddox for the 5-0 lead.

&uot;Their first five or six batters &045; they just battle, battle, battle,&uot; Morris said. &uot;They’re outstanding on two-strike swings. They fouled it off before they got their pitch. Timmy threw a heck of a game last time (against Prep). He got some pitches up, and I think their emotion was the difference in the game right off the bat. They hit the ball hard, put us on our heels and we just didn’t recover.&uot;

The Rebels had chances in the first two innings to answer but came up empty against Hood. In the first Case walked and went to second with two outs on a David Trisler single, but Hood got David New to ground out to short to end the inning.

In the second an infield single from Ray Simpson with one out loaded the bases, but Williams flied out to third and Case struck out to end the inning with the bases loaded.

&uot;I thought we took a lot of pitches early in the game,&uot; Morris said. &uot;They jumped on us at the first of the game, but that first one was one me. I told them to come out here and battle. We took a lot of fastballs for strikes. That’s one of the things coaches look for as being aggressive at the plate.&uot;

Said Queen: &uot;They hit the ball hard. They’re real streaky. They’ll score six runs at a time and get ahead real quick. But we had a lot of confidence. The first (game) really set the stage for the second one.&uot;