Despite getting nearly 300 total yards of offense from quarterback Desmond Hunter, Wilkinson County High School could not hold a late lead as the Jefferson County High School Tigers rallied for a 22-19 win over the Wildcats at WCHS’s homecoming game and an MHSAA Division 7-3A game Friday night.

Hunter completed 17 of 26 passes for 249 yards while rushing for another 49 yards. Wilkinson County ended up with 19 first downs and 370 yards of total offense, but three lost fumbles hurt the Wildcats’ chances of ending Jefferson County’s four-game winning streak.

“We keep shooting ourselves in the foot,” Wilkinson County head coach Kenneth Brown said. “We got to learn to stop turning the ball over. We had two or three fumbles and an interception.”

Lamar Jackson led the Wildcats’ ground game with 93 yards. Travion Jones had quite a game with eight catches for 133 yards.

“The kids played hard. Both the offense and defense played good football tonight,” Brown said.

Jefferson County came out sluggish in the early goings of this pivotal division game for both teams and trailed Wilkinson County 13-8 at halftime. The Wildcats led the Tigers 19-16 early in the fourth quarter, but the Tigers answered with a touchdown of their own to grab the lead for good.

Jefferson County (5-2, 2-0) will look to remain unbeaten in Division 7-3A when it plays at Wesson next Friday with a 7 p.m. kickoff. Wilkinson County (2-6, 0-2) will try to rebound when it plays at Hazlehurst next Friday at 7 p.m.

“With a win, we’ve still got a shot at the postseason,” Brown said.