The Brookhaven Academy Cougars ended Marshall Academy’s season in a big way Friday night with an outstanding offense performance in a 48-15 victory in the opening round of the MAIS AA playoffs.

A slow start from the Cougars placed the Patriots in decent field position from the opening kickoff and another unfortunate defensive misfire created an opening for a 64-yard touchdown run by Everette Jones to give Marshall an early 7-0 lead. 

That deficit sparked a fire in the Cougars and fueled the Brookhaven Academy offensive surge that was to come.

BA went to the air most of the night and frustrated the Marshall cornerbacks by targeting them.

The first score for the Cougars came on a 67-yard pass from Dawson Flowers to Cade Brown. 

Brown would follow that up with a 62-yard TD catch later in the first quarter.

Emotions were running high and the game got chippy at times. Brown and his teammates were focused on not letting that bother them.

“Keeping my composure was key,” said Brown “I didn’t want to risk anything that may affect our game next week. We had planned all week that if they were going to man up on us that we would stretch them out and go to the air, and we did just that.”

BA led 31-7 at halftime.

Freshman kicker Corey Case had a big night for the Cougars as he hit three field goals and did not miss a PAT attempt.

The passing game for the Cougars cooled down late in the game and that made way for a an equally impressive running game from junior running back Nick Ogden.

Ogden had scoring runs of 5, 3, 4, and 2 yards. Two scores came in the first half and two after halftime.

“I run very angry but keeping my composure was also important,” said Ogden. “All the credit of my success goes to our offensive line as they opened the door tonight.”

“Both teams played very hard tonight,” said Cougar head coach Ron Rushing. “We’ve got to play with a 1-0 mentality each week going forward.”

The Daily Leader Defensive Player of the Week Gunar Brister made a team high 12 tackles for the Cougars. Flowers snagged two interceptions on defense and Cole Griffin recovered two fumbles to go along with his nine tackles.

The Cougars will be back on R.M. “Red” Stuard Field on Friday when they host the River Oaks (Louisiana) Mustangs (6-4) for a second round matchup.

Story by Paden Phillips