Despite a persistent heavy rain, the unbeaten Brookhaven AcademyCougars (11-0) put away the Bowling Green Buccaneers 21-14 tocapture their 4th straight District 4-AA championship onrain-soaked R.M. “Red’ Stuard Field Friday night.

With the win, the Cougars won the right to host an opening-roundgame in the South AA playoffs beginning Friday, Nov. 6.

Brookhaven will entertain Silliman Institute, beginning at 7p.m. Silliman put away Wilkinson County Christian Academy 8-6Friday.

The game was not officially over until Cougar outside linebackerJameson Powell picked off Bucs quarterback Cash Cooley at theCougar 45-yard line with 31 seconds left to play. BA juniorquarterback Chandler Rogers took a knee to end the game.

“I was really excited,” said Powell after the game about thepick and winning the district title again. “I saw Cooley turntoward his receiver; then I went to the ball.”

Powell finished the game as the leader on defense with 13tackles and 2 pass interceptions for the Cougars.

“I credit the win to our kids’ great attitude and a great teameffort,” said BA head coach Herbert Davis. “I was really pleasedwith our pass rush. It was the best we have executed all year. Thiswas the end of the first season. The second season starts nextweek.”

The Buccs, coached by Brett Beard, finished regular season play5-4 and 3-1 in the district.

Bowling Green scored at the 11:45 mark in the first quarter on a9-yard run by Cooley. The PAT kick failed and the Bucs held a brief6-0 lead over the Cougars.

With 6:10 remaining in the first quarter, Rogers connected withChristian (Bubba) Keene on a 34-yard pass-play for the touchdowns.Tyler Trout kicked his first of 3 PATs to give Brookhaven Academy a7-6 lead.

It wasn’t long before the Cougars struck again when Rogersscored a 1-yard plunge to give the hosts a 14-7 lead.

Rogers scored again on another 1-yard TD with 2:04 remaining inthe first half to push Brookhaven Academy’s lead to 21-6. TheCougars finished with 302 yards total offense.

Bowling Green scored its second and final touchdown at the 5:06mark in the third quarter on a 1-yard burst by David Fulks. Cooleyscored on the 2-point conversion, cutting the deficit to 21-14.

Rogers completed 11 of 21 passes for 139 yards to lead theCougar passing attack. Tripp Jolly made 7 catches for 71 yardsfollowed by Keene with 4 receptions for 68 yards.

For Bowling Green, Cooley completed 7 of 14 passes for 35 yardsand was intercepted twice. The leading receiver was Keith PaulDufren with 2 catches for 22 yards.

On the ground, Brookhaven Academy was led by Jennings Mills with11 rushes for 96 yards. Rogers followed with 67 yards on 22carries.

Cooley also directed the Buccs running game with 21 rushes for104 yards.

Defensively, Donovan Lorraine and Alan Michael Allred collected9 tackles apiece for the Cougars. Making 7 stops each were ClintStewart and Mark Rushing.