The North Side Indian football team emerges from Week 11 of the TSSAA football season with good news and bad news.
The good news is the Indians are in the playoffs and finished third in Region 6-4A and are set for a trip to Marshall County next week in the first round of the postseason.
The bad news is they’re entering the playoffs limping after losing their regular season finale in frustrating fashion, 16-7 to Chester County.
The Indians looked good early, stopping Chester County on its first drive and causing it to miss a field goal attempt and then scoring on its first drive when Carson Graves connected with Miles Howard for a 60-yard touchdown pass.
Unfortunately for North Side (4-6 overall, 2-3 in region play), that was all the scoring the home team would do.
Chester County got on the board just before halftime with a 35-yard field goal by Linkin Phillips.
There was no scoring for almost the entire second half as both teams’ offenses traded penalties and unforced errors to stall their own drives and give the other team a shot at scoring at times.
Then the last few minutes of the fourth quarter hit.
Chester County quarterback Evan Schippers connected with Chad Barham for a 44-yard score before the Eagles’ defense got an interception and scored again when Peyton Barham ran it in from 15 yards out, giving Chester County the 16-7, two-score lead with less than three minutes remaining.
North Side couldn’t score after that, and Chester County ran out the time clock to end its season with a victory.
Jackson Central-Merry 54, Gibson Co. 0
One Madison County team managed to win Friday as the Cougars (2-8, 1-6) ended their season in an emphatic manner.
Jonas Patterson and Mike Massey each had two touchdowns while Jalen Young and Xavier Thomas each had one offensive touchdown.
McKai Woods had a pick-six for a score as well.
“We started our year with a win and ended with another,” said JCM head coach Erit Turner. “We had a bunch of trouble making things happen in between those wins, but I’ll take this one tonight.”
South Gibson 48, South Side 21
The Hawks (2-8, 0-5) did their best to stay with the Hornets, but South Gibson ultimately pulled away in the second half.
Chuck Stokes carried the ball 13 times for two of South Side’s scores and 157 yards.
Rakarius Lacy scored the other touchdown while carrying the ball eight times for 88 yards.
Lausanne 44, University School of Jackson 10
The Bruins (6-4, 3-2) had already spotted the Lynx 23 points before USJ scored its first points with a Corben Howard touchdown pass to Mills Terry. This score came after Nosh Spencer returned a kickoff to the Lausanne 1-yard line.
Cooper Sikes kicked a field goal to add 10 points for the Bruins on their opening drive of the third quarter.
Lausanne added two more touchdowns after the Bruins scored their points.
Bolivar 76, Liberty 20
The Crusaders were unable to pick up a win this season, and they had a hard time stopping the Tigers or getting anything going offensively.
