BA Cougars win homecoming

Published 5:00 am Monday, October 22, 2001

There were many things going on at Brookhaven Academy Fridaynight. There was a pregame ceremony held in the gymnasium to renamethat building in honor of former headmaster John R. Gray and alsothe homecoming ceremonies at halftime during which Joey Sessums wascrowned homecoming queen.

There was also a football game to be played between the BACougars and the Porters Chapel Eagles. However the drama over whowould win the homecoming crown lasted longer than the suspense ofwho would win the football game as the Cougars jumped all over thevisitors from Vicksburg. Brookhaven, which lost last year to theEagles 35-31, avenged that defeat Friday night with a 43-14domination of PCA .

“It was real special to win homecoming, especially againstPorter’s Chapel, since they beat us last year,” said BA seniorreceiver Chad Lagrone.

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The Cougars came out on fire and put the game away shortly afterit got started. Junior running back Ryan Nix got the home team’soffense going as he scored twice in the game’s first 4 minutes onTD runs of 15 and 42 yards. Nix would finish the night with 4rushes for 85 yards.

Senior quarterback Ben Davis also had a big first half for BA.Davis threw an 89-yard touchdown pass to senior Jeffrey Waycasterin the first quarter and ran for another score from 3 yards out inthe 2nd quarter. He would also finish the game 5 for 5 on PAT’s.The Cougars held a commanding 29-0 lead at halftime.

The large lead would allow Brookhaven’s Coach Ray Ishee tosubstitute freely in the second half. One backup who gainedvaluable experience was fullback Jonathan Watts. The sophomoregained 48 yards on 15 attempts and scored 2 TDs. Watts was thestarting fullback in place of the injured Adam Smith. Smith was outthis week due to a leg injury and his status for next week’s gamewas unknown at press time.

Watts opened the Cougar scoring in the third quarter with a2-yard plunge. A 36-yard pass-and-catch from sophomore quarterbackCollins Case to receiver Jimmy Latham set up Watts’ touchdown.After the Davis PAT the score was 36-0 with 44 seconds left in the3rd quarter.

On the next kickoff, PCA would fumble the kickoff and it wouldbe recovered by Latham. The Cougars drove the short field and Wattswould punch it in from 1 yard out for his second TD of thenight.

Porters Chapel would not give up though as the Eagles scored ontheir last two possessions of the night. Their first score of thenight came with 2:45 left in the 4th quarter when T.J. Smithplunged in from 3 yards out. Smith would finish the night with 112yards on 26 carries.

The Eagles final score would come with 40 seconds left in thegame when Andrew Embry hit Joseph Ivy with a 15-yard touchdownpass. Aaron Curry kicked both PAT’s for Porters Chapel.

On defense, Will Rushing led the Cougars defense with 8tackles and 1 fumble recovery. Tyler Lofton added 7 tackles. PaulCoker and Latham recovered fumbles. Watts and Layne Moreton eachhad an interception.

“We played good ball tonight,” said Coach Ishee. “It wasgood to let some of the younger guys get an opportunity to makesome plays tonight” BA (7-1, 1-1) travels to Centreville Academythis week for a non-district game against the Tigers.