JACKSON — With just under two minutes left in the third quarter, Joseph Hutchinson collected the snap from center before appearing to shove the football into the waiting arms of Daulton Nelson.

Nelson and Hutchinson sold the play-action fake well enough to give Payton Mayatt time to slip in between two Simpson Academy defenders.

 With the flick of his right wrist, Hutchinson effortlessly floated the football in between the two Cougar defenders and into Mayatt’s hands.

Mayatt did the rest.

The Hutchinson-to-Mayatt play culminated in a 44-yard touchdown, and it helped send the Raiders to a 34-20 win over Simpson Thursday in the MAIS Class AAAA, Division II championship at Jackson Academy.

The win was Lamar’s (10-3) fifth-consecutive over Simpson (10-4) dating back to the 2016 regular season, and it was the second time in as many years that the Raiders defeated the Cougars in a state-title contest.

“I’m telling you, and this is the absolute truth, if we would have lost this ballgame tonight, I would have been proud for Simpson because they are a very good football team,” Lamar coach Mac Barnes said. “I didn’t want our guys to lose, but I knew that there was a good chance. How many times are you going to beat a team four times in a row and two times in the state championship?”

The Lamar defense was responsible for three Simpson turnovers, but none was more decisive than the one the Raiders forced midway through the fourth quarter.

With Simpson driving and Lamar clinging to a 7-point lead, Cougar running back Caleb Garner took the handoff, and Raider linebacker Ben Bryan locked onto the Simpson runner before putting his head down and reaching in for the football. As the ball dropped to the turf, Lamar defensive back Josh Bakane fell on it near midfield.

“They ran a veer, and I just saw (Garner) flowing over, and I just stuck my hand in there and caused the fumble,” Bryan said.

The Raider offense took over and engineered a six-play drive, which Hutchinson punctuated with a 1-yard touchdown run with 2:03 remaining in the game to put the Raiders ahead 34-20 after the successful PAT by Jake Davidson.

Lamar’s defense also stymied Simpson in the first quarter when Leland Mosley recovered a Cougar fumble at the Lamar 7-yard line, and Brooks Brock pulled in his sixth interception of the year when he picked off Simpson’s Hooks Harvey in the end zone with 40 seconds left in the game.

Brock also finished with 29 yards rushing and one touchdown on offense.

“First of all, I want to thank God and my family, because, without them, I would not be here,” Brock said. “We came into this season, and we had a really young team this year, and I didn’t know what to expect. I felt like it was important for our seniors to step up and be actual leaders this year.”

Hutchinson, one of Lamar’s 17 seniors, was 10 of 15 for 163 yards passing with a touchdown, and he added another 99 yards rushing and one touchdown on 14 attempts. Hutchinson broke a 41-yard run in the second quarter that ignited the Raider bench when he juked a Simpson defender and sent him falling back on the turf.

Thursday’s championship capped a decorated prep career that includes winning three state championships for the Princeton commit.

“I’ve progressed as a player, and I’ve done all of this through God and my coaches and my players who got me here,” Hutchinson said. “I just feel like as we got older, the team just got closer and closer together, and we were just able to get it done.”

Mayatt, one of Hutchinson’s consistent deep-threat targets this season, entered Thursday’s game averaging 15 yards per reception. Mayatt finished with two catches for 90 yards and one touchdown. This season marked Mayatt’s first as a football player, but the lanky receiver said he and Hutchinson worked together over the summer and during the year to refine their chemistry.

“I wasn’t very great when I came out,” Mayatt said. “I just kept doing my best, and I finally got everything down, and it just came easy.”

Lamar’s Jake Ransier ran for a 10-yard touchdown the second quarter, and running back Daulton Nelson added an 8-yard scoring scamper in the third quarter. Nelson tallied 81 yards rushing on 14 carries.

“There’s no better feeling,” an elated Nelson said after the game.