By Dale McKee / Special to The Star
WAYNESBORO — Two years ago Wayne County and Picayune battled in one of the most exciting playoff games in Mississippi high school history.
Friday night the second act of the thriller went down to the final minute of the game as Wayne County held off a final offensive threat from Picayune to claim a 27-20 win in second-round play of the Class 4A MHSAA state playoffs.
The unbeaten and No. 1 ranked War Eagles (12-0) will now advance to third-round play when they travel to West Jones (9-3) next Friday night.
“I am so proud of my players,” said a disappointed Picayune Dodd Lee. “We are champions, but we just got beat by another bunch of champions. These seniors have won 30 games so I am proud of every last man on this team.”
The Maroon Tide, who trailed 20-7 in the second period battled back and tied the score only to see Wayne County take a 27-20 lead with less than 3 minutes to play in the third period.
The Tide had one final chance to at least tie the score when Reginald Bailey recovered a WC fumble at the War Eagle 30-yard line with 5:04 to play in the contest.
Picayune, behind 140-pound quarterback Jacob Kennedy, moved the ball to the Wayne County 12-yard line with 1:05 to play in the game. Then on a fourth-and-9 play Kennedy hit Wayne McMooain, but the pass play came up 2 yards short and WC took over with 1:01 to play.
“I know when you see the stats and that Picayune scored 20 points you would think our defense did not play well tonight, but tonight I thought they came up big when they had to," said WC head coach Marcus Boyles. "They fought hard, and even on the last play if anybody had been loafing Picayune could have made the extra 2 yards or even scored a touchdown."
On the night, the Wayne defense gave up 360 yards of offense as the visitors ran for 213 yards and passed for 147 yards and held the ball for over 30 minutes of the game.
Wayne County scored early as they won the coin toss — electing to receive — and marched 73 yards in seven plays as War Eagles’ quarterback Demarcus Henderson teamed up with Malik Lofton on a 10-yard pass.
Storm Seawright hit the first of his three extra points, giving WC the lead 7-0 at the 8:28 mark.
Picayune then took the ball and drove 96 yards in nine plays to score on a third-and-13 from the 19-yard line when Kennedy hit Reginald Bailey. Nick Riso tied the score at 7-all with 3:38 to play.
Wayne then exploded for two quick scores as Tracey Lampley ran 78 yards for a score. Lampley ran for 157 yards on the night and caught two passes for another 45 yards to lead the WC offense.
Three minutes later, Wayne marched 60 yards in three plays to score when Henderson hit Davontae Linear on a 49-yard strike with 8:08 to play in the half.
Henderson had a very successful night, passing for 114 yards and rushing for 95 yards.
“He came up big in a big game environment,” said Boyles.
The Tide responded on their next series when Kennedy hit Chris Nixon on a 79-yard pass play to pull Picayune within 20-13 at halftime. Kennedy ran for 50 yards on the night and threw for147 yards.
Picayune took the second-half kickoff and marched 75 yards in nine plays to tie the score on a 3-yard run by Nixon with 7:59 to play in the period.
The Tide also threatened early in the fourth period only to fail on a 47-yard field goal attempt.
