BROOKHAVEN — The Natchez High School Bulldogs saw their playoff chances take a big hit Friday night as they lost to the surging Brookhaven High School Panthers 48-32 Friday night in a pivotal MHSAA Region 3-5A game for both teams.

Natchez High found itself down 21-0 in the first half and go within one point, 27-26, nearly midway through the third quarter. But the inability to slow down Brookhaven’s running game and not being able to convert on its own two-point conversions proved to be costly.

“We started out slow and could never catch up,” Bulldogs head coach Roy Rigsby said. “I really can’t put my finger on it. Before I knew it, we gave up 21 points. We did good trying to catch up. He had trouble with their quarterback.

The Bulldogs cut into that big deficit in the second quarter and were down 27-14 at halftime. They scored two touchdowns over the first five minutes of the second half to make it a 27-26 ball game. But the Panthers (5-5, 4-2) responded with two rushing scores to go up 41-26.

Natchez High’s defense got a pick-six with about 3:00 to go, but Brookhaven scored about a minute later to end any comeback hopes by the Bulldogs.

As for how big this loss affected the Bulldogs’ playoff chances, Rigsby said. “We need some help next week. And from Brookhaven. We’ve got to win and have Brookhaven beat Forest Hill.”

Natchez High (4-6, 2-4) plays host to South Jones High School Friday at 7 p.m.

Ferriday 60, Delhi Charter 3

FERRIDAY — The Ferriday High School Trojans got another convincing win, but head coach Stanley Smith was not thrilled with their performance in a 60-3 homecoming beat down of the Delhi Charter School Gators Friday night at Melz Field in an LHSAA District 2-2A game.

“We took a step back. I didn’t think we executed very well tonight,” Smith said. “We need to clean up our execution and discipline errors, blocking assignments, tackling. We had too many penalties tonight.”

Ferriday, the No. 1 team in the LHSAA Class 2A power ratings and the No. 5 team in the LSWA Class 2A poll, only led Delhi Charter 10-3 at the end of the first quarter before scoring 24 points in the second quarter. Kobe Johnson had a 52-yard touchdown run, Byron Milligan had a 17-yard TD run, and Kobe Dillon scored on a 25-yard run to give the Trojans a commanding 34-3 halftime lead.

Jaquarius Davis scored on a 60-yard run while the defense produced a safety near the end of the first quarter and a 60-yard interception return for a touchdown by Damion Milligan early in the fourth quarter.

Byron Milligan had five carries for 110 yards while David has four carries for 91 yards. Dillon was just 3-for-9 passing for 37 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions to go with 53 rushing yards on two carries.

Kylyn Lewis led the defense with six tackles, three of the for a loss, with one sack and one fumble recovery. Vincent Hollins had four tackles, three of them for a loss, and two sacks.

“We’ve got a big game with (Class 3A) Richwood next week. We’ve got clean up our errors,” Smith said.

This marks the second straight season that Ferriday ran the table in District 2-2A, finishing with a 6-0 mark.

Ferriday (8-1 overall) plays host to Richwood (1-8 overall) Friday at 7 p.m.

Centreville Academy 30, Greenville Christian School 22

GREENVILLE — The Centreville Academy Tigers went on the road and came away with a 30-22 upset win over the Greenville Christian School Saints Friday night in the first round of the MAIS Class 3A State Playoffs.

Centreville Academy, the No. 10 seed, and Greenville Christian School, the No. 7 seed, went back and forth throughout this hard-fought game. The Saints took an 8-0 lead just over two minutes into the game before the Tigers tied it up at 8-8 with 4:01 to go in the first quarter.

The Tigers took a 14-8 lead with 5:50 left in the second quarter, but the Saints (5-6) took a 15-14 lead with 1:43 remaining until halftime. Centreville retook the lead at 22-15 at the 4:54 mark of the third quarter.

However, the Saints would rally back to tie the game at 22-22 with 9:35 left in the fourth quarter. The Tigers, on the other hand, would make sure that this game would not go into overtime with a touchdown and key two-point conversion with 3:16 to go.

Centreville Academy (5-6) will play at No. 2 seed and District 2-3A champion Winona Christian School in the Class 3A quarterfinals Friday at 7 p.m.

WCCA 48, Prentiss Christian School 6

PRENTISS — Led by R.J. Fisher and Roderick Bailey, the Wilkinson County Christian Academy Rams took care of the Prentiss Christian School Saints 48-6 Friday night in a homecoming of sorts for Rams first-year head coach Randy Holloway to win the MAIS 8-Man District 2-1A championship.

Holloway coached at Prentiss Christian School for several years before taking the head coaching job at WCCA earlier this year. And what a turnaround season it continues to be for the Rams, who narrowly missed out on the postseason last year.

WCCA jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter on a pair of touchdown runs by Bailey. The Saints pulled within 14-6 on a 26-yard TD pass from Byron Anderson to Robert Buckley with 7:54 left in the second quarter. That would be the closest they would get as the Rams scored 34 unanswered points.

R.J. Fisher had touchdown runs of 18 and 70 yards while Bailey scored on a 26-yard run to give the Rams a 33-6 halftime lead. Brayson Boeta threw a 22-yard TD pass to Thomas Vannoy in the third quarter and Ryan Fisher scored on a 28-yard run in the fourth quarter.

R.J. Fisher had four carries for 117 yards and Bailey had eight carries for 64 yards. Ryan Fisher had three carries for 62 yards. As a team, WCCA had 372 rushing yards and 80 passing yards. The Rams’ defense held Prentiss Christian (3-7, 1-2) to just 43 yards of total offense and forced three turnovers.

WCCA (9-2, 3-0) will host an opponent to be determined Friday at 7 p.m. in the first round of the MAIS 8-Man Class 1A State Playoffs.

Jefferson County 44, Franklin County 6

FAYETTE — The Jefferson County High School Tigers would not let an early deficit and a slow start deter them on their way to going undefeated in MHSAA Region 7-3A.

Marques Smith had a pair of 10-yard touchdown runs and Jefferson County had a pick-six from its defense in a 44-6 win over the Franklin County High School Bulldogs.

Trent Tindle threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Tony Norman with 8:47 left in the first quarter to give Franklin County a 6-0 lead. The Bulldogs would take that lead into the second quarter, but the Tigers would take over.

Nathaniel King scored on a 14-yard run just 40 seconds into the second quarter to tie the game at 6-6. Smith’s first 10-yard scoring run and Jaheime Herrington’s two-point conversion run with 8:55 to go until halftime gave Jefferson County the lead for good at 14-6.

Javarous Austin picked off a pass and returned it 22 yards for a touchdown with 3:11 left in the second quarter and Smith threw a 33-yard TD pass to Kendrick January Jr. with 38 second remaining until halftime for a 30-6 lead at the break.

Both Smith and Herrington scored on 10-yard runs in the third quarter.

Jefferson County (6-4, 4-0) will be the Region 7-3A No. 1 seed and host the No. 4 seed from Region 8-3A No. 4 seed Magee High School Friday at 7 p.m. in the first round of the MHSAA Class 3A South State Playoffs.

Franklin County (2-8, 1-3) will the Region 7-3A No. 4 seed and will play at the Region 8-3A No. 1 seed in a Class 3A South State first-round game Friday at 7 p.m.

Block 62, Northwood-Lena 0

LENA, La. — The Block High School Bears picked up their first win since Week 1 as they routed the Northwood-Lena High School Gators 62-0 Friday night in an LHSAA District 3-1A game.

Block led 16-0 after one quarter of play before putting the game away with a 26-point second quarter for a 42-0 lead at halftime. The Bears continued to add to their lead in the second half.

Block (2-7, 1-3) plays host to district rival St. Mary’s High School Friday at 7 p.m.

Mangham 35, Vidalia 6

VIDALIA — The Mangham High School Dragons bounced back from their blowout loss to Ferriday High School with a 35-6 win over the Vidalia High School Vikings Friday night in an LHSAA District 2-2A game.

Mangham jumped out to a 21-0 lead before Vidalia scored late in the first quarter. The Dragons (7-2, 4-1) scored a touchdown in both the third and fourth quarters.

Vidalia (2-7, 1-4) plays at Delhi Charter School Friday at 7 p.m.

Cedar Creek School 49, Delta Charter School 14

FERRIDAY — Delta Charter School was competitive with Cedar Creek School in the first quarter, even taking the lead. The next two quarters belonged to the visiting Cougars.

Cedar Creek scored four rushing touchdowns over a span of the second and third quarters to pull away for a 49-14 win over the Delta Charter Storm Friday night in an LHSAA District 2-1A game.

Kavarius Whitehead threw a 41-yard touchdown pass to Kenzeric Hollins with 6:31 left in the first quarter and then scored on an eight-yard run with 5:28 to go in the same quarter for a 14-7 lead. But any thoughts of the Storm pulling off an upset ended in the second quarter.

That’s when the Cougars scored three rushing touchdowns and one passing touchdowns and was good on all four extra points to go into halftime with a 35-14 lead. Cedar Creek (7-2, 5-1) scored on an interception return and a rushing TD in the third quarter.

Delta Charter (3-6, 3-3) plays host to Ouachita Christian School Friday at 7 p.m.

Oak Grove 57, Sicily Island 8

SICILY ISLAND — The Oak Grove High School Tigers, one of the top teams in LHSAA Class 1A, used a 35-point second quarter to cruise to a 57-8 win over the Sicily Island High School Tigers Friday night in an LHSAA District 2-1A game.

Five different players scored touchdowns for Oak Grove (6-3, 5-1) in its big second quarter. Ron Craten, Otis Moore, Deuce Clement, and Braden Sullivan each had touchdown runs while Zach Hegwood scored on a 65-yard interception return.

Maurice Humphries Jr. returned the opening kickoff of the second half 80 yards for a touchdown and the ensuing two-point conversion was good, making it a 45-8 game. But the Tigers answered with two touchdowns of their own in the second half.

Sicily Island (2-7, 0-6) travels to St. Joseph, La. to take on district foe Tensas High School Friday at 7 p.m.