WOODVILLE — Kelvin Barnes made a 39-yard field goal with just 45.7 seconds left in the ball game to give the Jefferson County Tigers a stunning 25-24 win over Wilkinson County in the Wildcats’ homecoming game Friday night.

The win by Jefferson County did two things — it kept the Tigers right with Hazlehurst in a tie for first place in Region 7-3A and it gave Wilkinson County its first loss of the season.

The Wildcats’ inability to score even one two-point conversion ended up being the big difference. They attempted one pass and three runs on each conversion and not once were they able to punch it in.

And that negated another all-around performance by Wilkinson County quarterback Devin Voorhies, who completed 12 of 21 passes for 177 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He also had 11 carries for 79 yards.

Jefferson County running back Arthur Norton had a huge game against a good Wildcats defense. Norton finished with 26 carries for 160 yards with one touchdown and his two-point conversion run following Rashaad Bradley’s second touchdown run of the game with 5:28 to go made it a 24-22 ball game. Bradley completed 7 of 13 passes for 130 yards with one interception. That eventually set the stage for the Tigers to complete a comeback from a 24-14 deficit early in the fourth quarter despite giving up 362 yards of offense to the Wildcats.

Jefferson County (4-4, 2-0) plays at Prentiss at 7 p.m. next Friday. Wilkinson County (6-1, 1-1) plays at Hazlehurst next Friday with kickoff at 7 p.m.