The Brookhaven Academy Cougars have made a return trip to theplayoffs in hopes of defending their State Championship title. TheCougars will host Adams County Christian School Friday night in thefirst round of the MAIS AA state playoffs on R.M. “Red” StuardField. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

In other local academy game, McComb’s Parklane Academy (5-5, 1-4)and Copiah Academy (3-7, 1-4) have ended their football season lastFriday’s losses.

 Brookhaven Academy (10-1, 4-0), coached by Herbert Davis, finishedtheir regular season with a 45-33 win over the Bowling GreenBuccaneers.

ACCS (8-3, 2-2), coached by Paul M. Hales, hammered ManchesterAcademy 35-14 last week.

This will be the first meeting between the two teams this year.Davis said this should be a very good game to watch.

“ACCS is having one of their best years that I have seen,” saidDavis. “They are big, tough and have some very good running backs.We will have to play a physical ballgame to compete withthem.

“We are glad to be back in the playoffs,” added Davis. “We do nothave the size like we had last year so basically we will have to bephysically and mentally tough to play in each game. We also have tocut out our mistakes and penalties.”

Key personnel for the Cougars: Quarterback Chandler Rogers hascompleted 131 of 216 passes for 2,338 yards. He has rushed for 602yards on 85 carries. Running back Jennings Mills has rushed 70times for 634 yards. Wide receiver Bubba Keene leads all receiverswith 991 yards on 57 receptions.

On defense, Bailey Hodge directs the Cougars with an average of 11tackles per game. Mark Rushing and C.J. Duckworth provide 10tackles a game.

In the win over Bowling Green, Rogers led the Brookhaven offense,completing 9 of his 13 pass attempts for 213 yards and threetouchdowns. He was intercepted once. Landon Nettles led theBrookhaven ground attack, rushing for 199 yards on 19 carries andtwo touchdowns.

Keene led all receivers with 6 receptions for 188 yards and twoscores. Sidney Chaffin added 6 receptions for 100 yards. Gage Poseycompleted 6 of his 16 pass attempts for 103 yards with aninterception in relief of Rogers.

On defense, Duckworth led Brookhaven with 13 tackles. Alan MichaelAllred followed with 12 stops and Bailey Hodge and Jeff Rushingeach added 10 in support.