For the third year in a row, Brandon has secured a region championship.

But it wasn’t pretty.

The game featured eight turnovers and saw the Bulldogs use a balanced offensive attack to outlast Meridian 41-35 to claim the Region 3-7A title at Bulldog Stadium on Friday night.

Even with the loss, Petal beating Northwest Rankin clinched a playoff spot for Meridian. Next week the Wildcats will host Pearl. If they win, they’ll be the No. 3 seed. If they lose, they’ll be the No. 4 seed. This is the first time since 2017 Meridian has made the playoffs.

“It’s awesome to win the district championship tonight, especially at home and on senior night, but it wasn’t the prettiest game,” said Brandon coach Sam Williams. “It’s one of those things where we were always playing a score ahead and could never deliver the knock-out punch.”

Meridian started the game off by recovering an onside kick, and four plays later Daniel Hill scored on a 2-yard run to give the Wildcats an early 7-0 lead with 10:38 left.

Brandon answered with a Nate Blount 21-yard touchdown run, but a missed extra point still gave Meridian a 7-6 lead.

On the Bulldogs next possession Blount scored on a 35-yard run to give Brandon a 13-7 lead with 7:57 left.

The Wildcats answered to regain the lead at 14-13 on a 49-yard touchdown pass from Hill to Dyon Eason.

Blount scored again on a 21-yard touchdown run with 4:03 left in the first quarter to give Brandon a 20-14 lead.

The Bulldogs extended their lead to 27-14 as Jamerion Rollins intercepted a pass and raced 82 yards to the end zone with 9:14 left in the second quarter.

Meridian answered to cut the lead to 27-21 on Hill’s 1-yard touchdown run.

Bulldogs extended their lead to 34-21 on a 41-yard touchdown pass from Landon Varnes to Quincy Phillips.

Hill had a 6-yard touchdown catch from Jordan Siaw for Meridian to cut the Brandon lead to 34-28 with 7:45 left in the fourth quarter.

Varnes hit Cam Keyes on a 21-yard touchdown pass for Brandon to extend the lead to 41-28 with 4:06 left in the fourth quarter.

Siaw found Jaylen Rush on a 10-yard touchdown pass with 1:09 left in the fourth quarter to cut the Brandon lead to 41-35.

“Both teams made adjustments and we kept answering scores and I’m glad we came out of here with a win,” Williams said. “Meridian is so much better, and they play so hard. We didn’t play many plays on offense and were off rhythm for most of the night.”

Blount had 149 yards on 22 carries to lead Brandon (7-2, 4-0 Region 3-7A). Phillips had six catches for 133 yards, while Varnes finished 10-of-19 for 231 yards passing.

“We knew coming into tonight we had to respond as many times as we had too and we did even with the turnovers,” Varnes said. “We’re a confident group and we over believe that every Friday we’re going to win a football game and that’s what we do.”

Hill finished with 144 total yards and four touchdowns to lead Meridian (5-5, 3-2 Region 3-7A).

“The found ways to make plays and take advantage of our mistakes. Brandon did a good job of taking away from our run game,” said Meridian coach Marcus Boyles. “Hats off to Brandon. They made the plays. Next week we got to go into the game and win and get the third seed.”