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It was finally football weather Friday night at Simpson Academy and the Cougars did not disappoint. It was a first round playoff matchup against the 11 seed Madison St. Joe. The two teams met earlier in the season in a back and forth battle that ended with the Cougars winning by a score of 28-21 thanks to a second half comeback. The stage was set for another great game.
The Cougars waisted no time by taking the opening kickoff and establishing a grinding 76 yard drive. The drive was capped off by a 3 yard touchdown pass from Brentley Berry to Aubren Kennedy. Two plays later, the Cougar defense pulled through when Matt Adcock knocked the ball loose and it was recovered by Aubren Kennedy. Then with 4:34 left in the 1st, Carter Cockrell scored on a 4 yard run. The Bruins tried to bounce back with a drive of their own. However, they decided to go for it on 4 down and 3 yards to go and the Cougar defense stood its ground once again with a tackle in the backfield by Sawyer Dunn. Simpson Academy ended the quarter up by a surprising 14-0.
In the 2nd quarter, the Cougars picked up right where they left off. Capitalizing off the defensive stop, Carter Cockrell scored on an 11 yard touchdown run to put the Cougars up 21-0. Madison St. Joe wasn’t ready to quit. The Bruins drove the ball down and scored on a 2 yard run to bring them back within striking distance with a score of 21-7. The Cougars were having none of it. As the Simpson Academy line continued their dominance, Carter Cockrell took the handoff and broke a 39 yard touchdown run to make the score 28-7. The Cougars weren’t finished. The Cougar defense had another 4 and out getting the ball back in the hands of Brentley Berry and the Simpson offense. Then with 53 seconds left, Berry hit Sawyer Dunn for a 20 yard touchdown pass allowing the Cougars to go in at halftime up 35-7.
The theme for the second half was Simpson Academy defense. The third quarter began with a Cougar interception by Sawyer Dunn. Simpson could not capitalize on the turnover and had to punt for the first time on the night. Madison bounced back with a 21 yard touchdown pass to make it 35-13. The two point conversion was no good.
The fourth quarter was back and forth for both defenses. However, the Cougars were able to score one more time on a 1 yard touchdown pass to Aubren Kennedy for his second touchdown of the night. This sealed the deal to make the final score Simpson 41 – Madison St. Joe 13.
Brentley Berry was brilliant under center as he was 12-16 for 175 yards with 3 touchdowns. He also added 69 rushing yards. On the season, Berry had 1,171 passing yards with 14 touchdowns. Carter Cockrell continued his dominance with 23 carries for 126 yards and 3 touchdowns. Cockrell now has 1,242 rushing yards with 22 touchdowns. Aubren Kennedy, who has been recovering from knee surgery earlier in the season, had his coming out party to lead Cougar receivers with 4 catches for 56 yards and 2 touchdowns. Once again the Cougar defense was led by Matt Adcock with a dominating 9 tackle performance.
The Cougars will travel to Amite, Louisiana to take on the one loss, Oak Forest Academy in the second round of the playoffs this Friday night at 7:00.
Photos courtesy Jennifer Ashley
MageeNews.com is an online news source serving Simpson and surrounding counties as well as the State of Mississippi.
