NATCHEZ — The Adams County Christian School Rebels will be making the four-hour drive to Starkville to take on the Starkville Academy Volunteers Friday at 7 p.m. in the quarterfinals of the MAIS Class AAA State Playoffs.

Both No. 14 seed ACCS (3-7) and No. 6 seed Starkville Academy (9-2) are coming off impressive first-round victories, doing so in completely different ways.

The Rebels used a balanced offense — 150 rushing yards and 175 passing yards — to upset No. 3 seed Bowling Green School 30-19 last Friday night. Sterling Yarbrough completed 11 of 19 passes and four total touchdowns – three passing and one rushing.

Jakarius Caston had 102 receiving yards and two touchdowns to go with 56 yards rushing. Defensively, Caston and Yarbrough each had an interception while DJ Stampley had two sacks and Yohan Thompson had a team-leading six tackles.

While ACCS’s offense will need that kind of performance against a tough Starkville Academy defense, the Rebels’ defense will have to stop the Volunteers’ running game and force them to be one-dimensional.

The Volunteers had five times as many total offensive yards as No. 11 seed Cathedral High School did, 285 to 57, in their decisive 40-6 win over the Green Wave last week.

The majority of their yards, 244 of them to be exact, came on the ground. Taylor Arnold, who had 104 yards on just four carries, and Cj Jackson combined for four rushing touchdowns. Cade Vickers returned a punt 40 yards for a touchdown.

Centreville Academy at Winona Christian School

CENTREVILLE — After taking care of No. 10 seed Carroll Academy at home in the first round of the MAIS Class AA State Playoffs, No. 7 seed Centreville Academy will hit the road to take on No. 2 seed Winona Christian School in the quarterfinals at 7 p.m. Friday.

Centreville (6-5), the District 4-AA runner-up, got a combined 200 rushing yards and four touchdowns from the duo of Daniel Vine and Devon Parrish in the 40-14 win last Friday night. Vine had 131 yards and three touchdowns on 20 carries while Parrish had 69 yards and one score on 10 carries.

The Tigers’ special teams also contributed as Colby Welch returned a punt 70 yards for a touchdown and Tyler Thomassie ran in from one yard out. Their defense held Carroll Academy’s Rebels to 181 yards of total offense and forced three turnovers.

They will need that kind of effort if they are to pull of the upset of the District 1-AA champion Stars (8-3), who shut out the No. 15 seed Amite School Center Rebels 43-0 in their opening-round match-up.