VICKSBURG – The Copiah Academy Colonels captured the MPSA SouthState Class AA title Friday night with a 35-22 win over the PortersChapel Eagles and advance to the AA state championship game. OnThursday night the Colonels go against North AA champ Grenada KirkAcademy at Mississippi College in Clinton. Kickoff is 7 p.m.

In the North AA state title game, Kirk Academy eliminatedWinston Academy 37-6.

The 9-4 Colonels, coached by Mitch Mitchell, are making theirsecond straight appearance in the championship game. Last year,Copiah fell to Simpson County 14-7 in the title matchup.

“It was great,” said Mitchell of the win over Porters Chapel.”It gets us back to the state championship. We played the firsthalf as good as we could play. We are very happy to haven anotherchance at the state title.”

The Copiah defense was instrumental in shutting down the Eagles’offensive game. Porters Chapel quarterback Hayden Hales rushed thefootball 11 times for 33 yards and fumbled twice.

Hales completed just 13 of 40 passes for 188 yards and twotouchdowns and was intercepted once.

Porters Chapel turned the football over four times and allowedCopiah to score on four of its last six possessions in the firsthalf of play.

At halftime, the Colonels held a 35-3 lead over the Eagles.Porters Chapel went to the air in the second half to score 19points but remained too far behind to catch Copiah.

On their opening possession in the first quarter, Copiahquarterback Daniel Sims connected to Hunter Greer for a 68-yardtouchdown. Richard Henley kicked his first of five extra pointkicks for the 7-3 lead.

Porters Chapel came back with a 23-yard field goal from MichaelBusby to cut the deficit to 7-3.

The Colonels marched back and scored again on anotherSims-to-Greer connection for a 76-yard touchdown and a 14-3 lead asthe quarter ended.

Early in the second quarter, Sims found Bennett Wilson open fora 64-yard pass-play for the third Colonel TD and a 21-3advantage.

Copiah’s Brandon Greer rushed for touchdowns on runs of eightyards twice to give the Colonels a 35-3 lead at the half.

Sims completed 5 of 9 passes for 227 yards for the Colonels. Herushed the football 15 times for 23 yards.

Leading the Colonel receivers was Hunter Greer with 4 catchesfor 163 yards. Wilson had one catch for 64 yards.

Powering the Copiah running game with 17 carries for 67 yardswas Greer. Jake Guess finished with 57 yards on 14 carries.

Porters Chapel went to its air game as Hales hit Busby for a35-yard TD and Cole Smith for 15-yard score to cut the deficit to35-15. Copiah stopped both two-point conversion attempts.

In the fourth quarter, the Eagles recorded their final touchdownas Joey Gerache returned a Copiah fumble 82 yards to paydirt.

Defensively, Alex and Jake Guess led Copiahwith seven tackles apiece. Making six stops was Kent Miller. BenBoone and Preston Berry finished with five stops apiece. Wilsonrecovered two fumbles and intercepted a pass.

“We did a great job on the defensive side,” added Mitchell.