The Wilkinson County High School Wildcats saw their season come to an end as they lost to the second-ranked Kemper County High School Wildcats 36-16 Friday night in the second round of the MHSAA Class 3A South State Playoffs.

Wilkinson County head coach Kenneth Brown contributed the loss to big plays made by Kemper County’s offense as well as Wilkinson County’s defense not coming up with enough tackles.

“They used the big plays. They got the ball to start the second half and they went down the field on us,” Brown said. “The third quarter seems to be our Achilles heel.”

But on this night, it was the second quarter that proved to be Wilkinson County’s undoing. After the first quarter ended with an 8-8 tie, Kemper County (12-1) scored three touchdowns in the second quarter to take a 28-8 lead into halftime.

“We played a good football team. Good athletes. Well-coached. They were a little more physical than we were,” Brown said. “Their offensive line and defensive line are pretty solid.”

Brown noted that the injury bug that hit his team in recent weeks was another contributing factor in the outcome.

“We were short a couple of kids with injuries. We didn’t have Juan Anthony, one of our top receivers. With him out, they were able to key on one receiver,” Brown said.

Ja’Quorias Stewart completed 15 of 32 passes for 138 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He also had seven carries for 58 yards.

Travion Jones had eight catches for 105 yards. Stewart’s TD pass went to DreQuan Cage.

TreShaud Smith was the leading rusher for Wilkinson County (8-5) with eight carries for 60 yards and one touchdown.