JACKSON – With a pre-Halloween chill in the South Jackson air Thursday night, Ole Brook’s faithful followers watched as their beloved Panthers played through phantom interpretations and unenthusiastic play in the opening 20 minutes.

Trailing Wingfield 8-0 with just over 4 minutes left in the opening half, Brookhaven head coach Tommy Clopton saw his team rip off 34 unanswered points; thus claiming a 34-16 Region 3-5A win over the homestanding Falcon.

“We didn’t have any emotion, any fire when we came out to start (the game),” said Clopton. “When you don’t come out with great effort, bad things will happen to you. Give Wingfield credit, they played hard and they made some plays.”

With the win by the Panthers, they improve to 6-4 overall and 3-3. For the Panthers to make the playoffs, they must defeat Pearl River Central Friday night in the final regular season home game at King Field. A loss against the Blue Devils would bring this season to a close.

Wingfield, coached by Jeff Gibson, fell to 1-9 and 0-6. The Falcon defense gave Brookhaven all they could handle, before their offense put up the first points of the night. Quarterback Le’Andre Thomas scored a yard out. His conversion pass to Terry Watts was and Gibson’s crew took an 8-0 lead with 6:37 in the first half.

Ole Brook responded with a pair of touchdowns from Ken’Quavious Boyd (11-yard run) and Ben Robinson (60-yard punt return) in a 33-second span. Tyler Mixon sacked 1-of-2 PAT kicks and the Panthers would take 13-7 lead at the lead with 3:43 left in the half.

That momentum continues with Ole Brook’s first two second half possessions. Treviaunte McDaniel hit paydirt twice from 6 and 48 yards. Mixon nailed both PAT kicks for a 27-8 lead with 4:51 left in the third.

McDaniel led the Panthers attach with 137 yards on 14 carries, 2 touchdowns, 1 reception for 6 yards and a successful 2-point conversion run.

Runningback Thomas Poole capped off the Brookhaven scoring spree 30 seconds into the final frame with a 60-yard scoring run. Poole rushed 7 times for 87 yards.

The Falcons got a late touchdown run from Caston Leggett (14 yards) and a 2-point conversion run to close out the scoring.

“When we came out for the second half, we played better and we got after them (Wingfield) a little bit,” Clopton continued in his post-game observation. “We got the win. Now we turn our attention to Pearl River Central.”

Brookhaven amassed 380 yards of total offense, with 338 coming on the ground. Jon-Mark Mathis was 3-of-6 passing for 42 yards. He completed passes to Boyd (26 yards), Darrian Wilson (10 yards) and McDaniel (6 yards).

Defensively, Lazorian McNulty was in on 9 tackles. Montero Barton followed with 7 stops (5 solos). Sacks were registered by Amari Davis (3), Javarius Trunner, Davion McCoy and Greg Watts.