MERIDIAN —
With temperatures reaching the mid-90’s, the flag football portion of the State Games of Mississippi also heated up on Saturday. Coming from as far away as the Mississippi Gulf Coast, teams made the trek to the Queen City with visions of touchdowns and dreams of gold medals in their minds. Tournament Chairman Tunzyaan Griffin said the turnout was good but he wanted more teams in the tournament.
“We started out with eight teams,” Griffin said. “However, there is a league in Hattiesburg that has to finish up Sunday. Three teams are in that league and canceled because it would be too much for them to play on Saturday and then turn around and play Sunday down there.”
Griffin’s team, the Meridian Snipers, took the field early Saturday morning as they took the Arsenals from Columbus. Arsenal, a fairly new team, was no match for the Snipers as they were shut out 19-0 .
The Snipers got on the board midway through the first half. David Hampton caught a 20-yard pass from Griffin for the game’s first score. The point-after was good and Meridian led 7-0. The two teams battled throughout the first half and Meridian went to the half leading by that 7-0 score.
The Snipers put the game away in the second half. Sedrick Martin scored two times – one on a rushing touchdown and the other on an interception return – as the Snipers were victorious over Arsenal.
“(Arsenal) is a young team,” Griffin said. “We took advantage of some mistakes and put them away.”
With a victory under their belt, the Snipers faced a bigger challenge in their next game – a match with rival Mt. Carmel from Hattiesburg. The game was close early on. Mt. Carmel took the early lead on a touchdown pass, and held on to a 7-6 halftime lead. While the play had been very good in the first half, the second half became a nightmare for the Snipers. Mt. Carmel scored on four long passes and an interception return as they crushed the Snipers 33-6.
“They had our number,” Griffin said. “It was one of those things where they punched us in the mouth and we couldn’t respond.”
The Snipers, though, still advanced to the medal round as the third seed. Playing the second-seeded Dirty South, the Snipers fell behind the Gulfport squad 7-0 early. However, using a hook-and-lateral, the Snipers rallied as Will Catchings caught a pass from Griffin and then lateraled to Justin Boston, who outran the Dirty South defenders to the endzone for the tying score. Dirty South regained the lead — 14-7 — at halftime.
“We couldn’t get anything going against them,” Griffin said. “It was a good first half but we made some mistakes we shouldn’t have.”
An earl interception return for a touchdown helped Dirty South pull away, winning 33-19 and dropping the Snipers into the bronze medal game against Arsenal.
Aresnal came into the medal round as the fifth seed, downing Public Enemies (Meridian) 24-14 before getting blasted 35-0 by Mt. Carmel — who went on to beat Dirty South 20-15 to capture the gold, scoring in the final minutes to regain the lead and then intercepting a pass in the end zone in the waning seconds — in a semifinal. Facing their third straight game without a break, Arsenal forfeited the bronze to the Snipers.
“They were playing a third straight game,” Griffin said. “They were exhausted and had a key player get hurt in the Mt. Carmel game.”
Sports
Heating Up
Meridian runs for bronze in flag football
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(PHOTOS) Newton County Class 4A State Championship
Slideshow from games one and two of the MHSAA Class 4A State Championship.
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Not done yet
After being shutout less than 24 hours earlier, the Newton County Cougars used a 10-inning affair to force a Game 3 in the Class 4A championship series, topping Lewisburg, 2-1, in Game 2 at Trustmark Park.
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Hollins focused on Spurs, not his contract
Lionel Hollins has been more successful than any Grizzlies coach and will be a free agent after June 30.
He has the Grizzlies in the Western Conference finals for the first time and has won more games with this team than any other coach. -
Slive focused on future after big changes
Mike Slive sprawls in a comfy arm chair, propping his feet on a coffee table between one massive tome on Winston Churchill and an even thicker "Encyclopedia of Southern Culture."
He's relaxed and feeling awfully good about the state of the Southeastern Conference.
It's a rare moment of calm for the SEC's cerebral commissioner, but he can afford it since his "A pile" of things to do has gotten considerably slimmer over the past two years. -
’Bama bounces Ole Miss from SEC Tourney
For the second day in a row, the Rebels went into extra-innings but were unable to emerge with the victory as No. 21 Ole Miss (37-22) fell to Alabama (34-25) 7-5 in 10 innings at the SEC Tournament on Thursday.
With the loss, the Rebels were eliminated from the SEC Tournament and will now await NCAA Tournament selection announcements at 11 a.m. on Monday. The selection of the NCAA Tournament field will be televised by ESPNU.
Tanner Bailey (4-2) suffered the loss for the Rebels, allowing two runs on one hit with two walks in 2.1 innings of work. -
Roy shows big-league talent in win
Every youth leaguer dreams of being a Major League Baseball player. In Tuesday's Cardinals-Mets game, 8-year-old Trace Roy swung the bat and flashed some leather that looked like a glimpse into the future.
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Cougars fall in Game 1
A sixth inning rally by Lewisburg handed the Newton County Cougars their first lost of the postseason, 2-0, in Game 1 of the Class 4A baseball championship at Trustmark Park.
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Bulldogs win again, beat S. Carolina in SEC Tournament
Demarcus Henderson and Wes Rea both had RBI singles in the ninth inning to lift Mississippi State to a 5-3 win over South Carolina Wednesday night in the second round of the Southeastern Conference tournament.
The Bulldogs (42-16) loaded the bases with one out before Henderson and Rea drove in runs on consecutive at-bats for the second time in the game.
Mississippi State had beaten Missouri 2-1 in 17 innings Tuesday night, matching the longest game in SEC tournament history.
Reliever Myles Gentry (4-0) limited the Gamecocks (39-17) to a one-out single in the bottom of the ninth.
Gentry pitched 5-2/3 scoreless innings, allowing three hits while striking out eight.
Rea was 3 for 4 while Henderson drove in three runs.
Mississippi State led 3-0 before South Carolina tied it up in the fourth.
Max Schrock drew a bases loaded walk and Brison Celek followed with a two-run single. -
Hogs top Ole Miss in SEC Tournament
For the second time this season the Rebels played an extra-inning affair with the Razorbacks, but with a different outcome as No. 21 Ole Miss (37-21) fell to No. 15 Arkansas (36-19) 2-1 in 10 innings on Wednesday.
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Fundamentals leading Newton County to Jackson
In 2006, Newton County baseball won the 3A state title. Since then, they've moved up a class but haven't had much luck – until now.
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