Ty Matthews (10) breaks around the Lake Cormorant defense to pick up a Neshoba Central Rockets first down.

For the second week in a row, Neshoba Central had to come from behind to take a playoff win.

No problem for the Rockets (10-3), who trailed 14-7 at the half but outscored the Gators 29-14 in the final two quarters of play to take a 36-28 win in the second round of the MHSAA Class 5A playoffs. The win pits Neshoba Central against West Point, where the Rockets will travel next Friday for the North State title game.

“It was a No. 1 seed and a No. 2 seed playing each other, so I knew it would be a great ball game,” Neshoba Central head coach Patrick Schoolar said. “We did some things well and did some things bad, but at the end of the day, we won. That’s a team from a strong division we were going against, and we were able to knock a No. 2 seed out of it.”

Senior running back Tyler Mathis had two touchdowns and a key two-point conversion, Schoolar said, and junior running back Jarquez Hunter had three touchdowns for the Rockets. When Neshoba Central trailed 21-13 in the third quarter, Austin Day returned a kickoff inside the Gators’ red zone, setting up a key touchdown for the Rockets.

“It was a good team win,” Schoolar said. “I thought Ty Mathis ran hard, and I thought Jarquez ran hard. We’ve leaned on those guys for four years now, and I know Jarquez gets a lot of hype — and deservedly so — but Mathis has probably eclipsed 4,200 yards in four years. That has to be up there in the Neshoba record books.”

Last week, Neshoba central trailed Grenada 24-14 at halftime in the first round and had to come back, and the Rockets’ second-half performance this week was another instance of the players showing their resiliency, Schoolar said.

“I said last week was probably the most resilient win I had ever been a part of,” he said. “They never give up or panic, and they don’t get too frustrated (when we’re down). We understand who we are, what we are, and we always have a chance.”

One of the Rockets’ goals was to still be playing by Thanksgiving week, and Schoolar said reaching that goal is a great feeling.

“It’s a surreal feeling — it hasn’t really sunk in yet,” Schoolar said. “We expect to win, and we’re excited, and it’s big for the community and the school. We didn’t have great weather tonight, but we had a good turnout with the fanbase. I know it gets cliché-ish to say, but it really is ‘One Neshoba.’ Everyone was here: softball, baseball, the band, the cheerleaders, the concession workers — we’re all here for each other, and that makes a big difference.”