Brookhaven Academy’s no-huddle offense and stingy defenseproduced a lopsided 42-6 victory for the Cougars over the CopiahAcademy Colonels Friday night at Cougar Field.

The game featured the debut for two new coaches, BrookhavenAcademy with Ray Ishee and Copiah Academy with Tim Ellison.

“We looked a lot better than we did against Parklane,” said asweat soaked Ishee following the win. “We did a better jobexecuting.

“Defensively, we looked pretty good. The young ones arelearning. We feel pretty good about them.”

The no-huddle offense produced 401 yards on 56 rushes in thefirst game for Brookhaven.

Heading the ground attack was senior quarterback Ben Davis whorushed 12 times for 142 yards and two touchdowns.

“We came out real strong,” stated Davis. “We are going to be areal good team. We controlled the ball really well. We executedreal well.”

Ishee was also pleased with the scrambling and leadershipprovided by Davis. “Ben has good abilities. He is developing into agood quarterback. He is improving.”

Another top runner for the night was senior runningback AdamSmith who collected 126 yards on 17 carries and one touchdown.

Copiah scored its only touchdown in the opening seconds of thefirst quarter. Colonel quarterback Thomas Garland connected tosenior wide receiver Christopher Hobkirk for a n 81-yard touchdown.The PAT kick failed and the Colonels led 6-0 with 10:58 left in thefirst quarter.

Brookhaven marched on its first possession to the Copiah 20 infour plays where Davis’ endzone pass was intercepted by Hobkirk toend the first scoring threat.

The Cougars got their first break of the game at the 8:40 markwhen junior defensive back Will Rushing intercepted Garland’s passand returned it to the Colonel 46-yard line. Brookhaven drove tothe 19 but stalled.

With 2:25 left in the first quarter, Brookhaven took over at theCopiah 42. In three plays, Smith rushed for seven yards on twocarries to set up Davis’ 35-yard burst for the first Cougar TD ofthe season. Smith followed by kicking his first of four successfulextra points for a 7-6 lead.

In the second quarter, Brookhaven struck in the first twominutes when Davis scored his second touchdown of the night on athree-yard scramble, followed by Smith’s PAT kick for a 14-6 leadand 10:14 left in the first half.

The Cougar defense was playing havoc with the Colonel offense.Brookhaven’s Jeffrey Waycaster and Blake Killingsworth combined tostuff Garland for an 11-yard loss, forcing Copiah to kick from the11 with 4:25 remaining in the first half.

It took Brookhaven two plays to set up the next touchdown. Davisexploded for a 23-yard run to the 16 and junior wide receiver RyanNix ran around the right end for a 16-yard score. The PAT kickfailed and the Cougars went into the dressing room at halftime witha 20-6 advantage over the Colonels.

Brookhaven came out and drove from the Cougar 20 to the Copiah20 in eight plays. Davis pitched out to Waycaster who ran down theleft side for the TD and pushed Brookhaven’s lead over Copiah to28-6 at the 8:54 mark.

Copiah began moving the football into Brookhaven territory untilsenior defensive back Chad Lagrone leaped up and interceptedGarland’s pass at the Cougar 28-yard line. It took the Cougars sixplays to score on a 40-yard burst by Smith down the middle of thefield to increase the lead to 35-6.

Two plays later, the Colonels fumbled and Cougar sophomorelinebacker Jonathan Watts recovered the turnover forBrookhaven.

With the second team in on offense, led by sophomore quarterbackCollins Case, the Cougars marched 19 yards and scored the final TDof the night on an eight-yard keeper by Case.

Copiah coach Tim Ellison said the Cougars looked impressive. “BAhas a solid ball club,” said Ellison. “They are going to go a longway in their division. I was impressed with their conditioning andlevel of intensity. That’s a tribute to Ishee and (offensive coachPaul) Anderson.”

The Brookhaven defense held the Copiah running game to 25carries for 17 yards. The Colonels picked up their yardage in theair, completing 8 of 24 passes for 151 yards and two passinterception.

Hobkirk caught two passes for 98 yards and Jonathan Bass madetwo catches for 29 yards for the Colonels.

Nix contributed to the Cougar running came with six rushes for41 yards.

Powering the Brookhaven defense was senior Blake Killingsworthwith 12 tackles. Making nine stops was senior JeffreyWaycaster.

Senior outside linebacker Paul Coker was happy with thefirst-game win. “We came out real strong. We can play gooddefense.”

Brookhaven came into the game in better physical condition thanCopiah.

“Copiah just got tired,” added Ishee. “We played more peoplethan they did. We had more speed. The kids played hard.”

Brookhaven Academy (1-0) visits Central Hinds (0-1) Fridaynight.

@Bbstandings:STATISTICS

CA

BA

First Downs

5

17

Rushes-Yards

25-17

56-401

Passing Yards

151

0

Total Yards

168

401

Passes

8-24-2

0-7-0

Fumbles-Lost

3-2

5-1

Punts

4-24

2-45

Penalties-Yards

4-40

2-10

Copiah Academy

6

0

0

0

–

6

Brookhaven Acad.

7

13

22

0

–

42

First Quarter

CA – Hobkirk 81 pass from Garland (kick failed)10:58.

BA – Davis 35 run (A. Smith kick) 8:47.

Second Quarter

BA – Davis 3 run (A. Smith kick) 10:20.

BA – Nix 16 run (kick failed) 3:20.

Third Quarter

BA- Waycaster 20 run (Case to A. Smith)9:00.

BA – Smith 40 run (Smith kick good) 5:31.

BA – Case 8 run (Smith kick) 2:54.

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING: Copiah, NA. Brookhaven, A. Smith 17-126, Davis12-142, Nix 6-41.

PASSING: Copiah, Garland 8-24-2, 151 yards; Brookhaven,Davis 0-7-0, 0.

RECEIVING: Copiah, Hobkirk 2-98, Bass 2-29. Brookhaven,None.