Whew!

Oak Forest Academy Coach Jason Brabham’s first statement afterhis team’s 18-12 double-overtime victory over Brookhaven Academywas short and sweet.”We were lucky.”

The Yellow Jackets from Amite, La escaped Brookhaven AcademyFriday night with a hard-fought victory to improve to 2-0 on theseason. Brookhaven Academy dropped to 0-2.

“It was a heck of a game and you hate to see a team lose a gamelike this.” said Brabham. “They whipped us for the majority of thegame but we made some plays late to get the win.”

Brookhaven looked like a completely different team compared toits season opener at Centreville. The Cougars’ defense held OakForest in check the majority of the night, holding the YellowJackets on three fourth down conversion attempts and two fake puntattempts.

The Cougars kicked off the scoring after a scoreless firstquarter. Brookhaven quarterback Daniel Lofton found receiver JeremyJames in the back of the end zone from 33 yards out with 10:51 leftin the second quarter. The extra point attempt failed, giving theCougars a 6-0 lead.

Oak Forest answered late in the half as Yellow Jacketquarterback Luke Petitto scored on a 10-yard run with 46 secondsremaining. The Cougar defense stepped up and stopped the 2-pointconversion attempt, knotting things up at 6 going in to thehalf.

Brookhaven struck again at the 9:22 mark of the third quarter asLofton found Corey Dickerson from 36 yards out. The two-pointconversion attempt failed giving the Cougars a 12-6 lead.

Oak Forest answered with 4:40 left in the game on a 3-yard runby Will Stevens, once again knotting the game up after theconversion attempt failed.

Neither team was able to put the ball in the end zone in thefirst extra session. In the opening series of the second overtime,Petitto got his second touchdown of the night on the second playfrom scrimmage via a 7-yard run. The extra point failed, giving theYellow Jackets an 18-12 lead.

Brookhaven was left with four downs to put the ball in the endzone, but after two consecutive plays with no gain, the Cougarswere in a third and goal situation from the 10 yard line. Then abad snap over the head of Lofton forced the Cougar quarterback tomake something happen, but his pass found the hands of Oak Forestdefensive back Justin Hatcher, securing the win for Oak Forest.

“We gave it all we had.” said Brookhaven Academy coach BoMilton. “Our defense did a great job of growing up tonight. Theyshowed a lot of improvement over last week. They kept us in it andgave us a chance to win.

“It’s a tough loss but we’ll accept it and try and get ready forCopiah next week.”

Lofton led the Brookhaven offense with 116 yards on 21 carries.He was 5 of 10 through the air for 72 yards and two touchdowns andan interception. Kolby Byrd picked up 40 yards on 10 carries.

Petitto led the Oak Forest offense with 76 yards on 18 carriesand two touchdowns. Chase Ballard picked up 64 yards on 17carries

On defense, Byrd led Brookhaven with 18tackles. Nathaniel Sbravati followed with 9 stops. Daniel Lofton,Ty Smith and Will Gatlin each registered 7 tackles. Corey Dickersonrecovered a fumble.

Brookhaven hosts district rival and defending AA State championCopiah (2-0) Friday night in the District 4-AA opener for bothteams. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.