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The Simpson County Academy Cougars found themselves in unfamiliar territory Friday night as Central Hinds Academy, the top ranked team in MAIS AAA District 3, invited the Cougars over for their homecoming celebration. The Cougars, who rarely are selected to be a homecoming foe, took exception to the invite and arrived with plans to take everything Central Hinds had, including the food from their grills and the homecoming crown. You could feel the intensity as the Cougars prepared to take the field to receive the opening kickoff, however only seconds into the game during the return, the Cougars fumbled the ball and Central Hinds took over 1st and 10 from the Cougar 30 yard line. Four plays later, the Cougar defense had served notice not allowing even one yard of offense and returning the ball promptly to their offensive brethren. It was now time for Simpson to display their four play version of offense, first by powering up the middle with senior fullback /linebacker Triston Cowan followed by a mix of explosions from junior brothers Kyle and Mathew Burney with Mathew ultimately cashing in from 21 yards out for Simpson’s first touchdown of the night. Kicker Scott Johnson continued his perfect streak booting the PAT, with the aid of outstanding ball placement by senior Christopher Cockrell, and the Cougars were quickly up 7-0. The Simpson defense continued their domination the next series as Central Hinds’ next three plays culminated in a negative 12 yards with outstanding plays resulting in tackles behind the line by both Zack Lee and Cook Weathersby and a last attempt pass broken up by senior cornerback Nicholas Broadhead. Later in the first, after taking back over following an uncharacteristic 2nd turnover by the Cougars (interception), the Cougars again continued their offensive attack with QB Mathew Burney traveling 34 yards following behind bruising, road clearing blocks by senior Alex Hamilton again to pay-dirt for Mathew’s second TD of the night. For the ensuring PAT, the Simpson coaching staff decided to add some extra excitement and called on Christopher Cockrell to take the snap and fire a pass out to Simpson’s Dylan Hollman, who easily walked into the end zone behind a tidal wave of blockers for a successful 2 point conversion and Simpson’s lead grew to 15-0. The continued domination by the Simpson defense allowed the offense plenty of time to attack and the offense responded with two more scores in the first half. The first came through the air with Mathew Burney finding senior Cullen Shows for a 23 yard touchdown pass and the second by Triston Cowan blasting through the middle of the Central Hinds defense for 23 yards and a cloud of dust. Both of these TDs were capped off with successful PATs by Scott Johnson and his trusty sidekick holder, Cockrell. The Central Hinds homecoming court crossed the field and took pictures with the halftime scoreboard reading Simpson 29 Home 0. Central Hinds took possession to start the 2nd half with hopes of redeeming themselves, however 3 plays in, Simpson sophomore Cook Weathersby intercepted an errant throw and Simpson was again on the attack. This possession by the Cougars featured runs by senior Landon Herrington, and sophomores Hollman and Weathersby with Weathersby ultimately enjoying the fame crossing the line from 2 yards out. Johnson again added the PAT and Simpson led 36-0. With this score, the white surrender flags started waiving and the time keeper flipped the switch to turn the clock on and never turned it off again. Despite allowing a late TD by Central Hinds, the Simpson defense remained dominant most of the night allowing less than an average of 1 yard per carry against the run. Triston Cowan led the team in tackles with 5, including 1 for a loss, followed by Jarred Bridges with 4 tackles, including 2 for a loss, and Zack Lee with 3 tackles, including 1.5 for a loss.
With this win, the Cougars improve to 6-1 on the season and will again go on the road next Friday night to take on district foe Columbia Academy. Columbia is 4-2 on the season coming off a very close 1 point loss to the MAIS #1 ranked Adams Christian Friday night. Game time will be 7:00 pm.
Great pictures