Here’s a look at how area high school football teams fared in games played on Thursday and Friday.

 Jefferson County 46, Wesson 34 

In a matchup of two explosive offenses, it was the Jefferson County Tigers (7-2) who landed the last punch on Friday to beat their Region 7-3A rivals from Wesson (7-2).

The Tigers finish as the first placed team in the region and are followed by second place South Pike, third placed Wesson, and fourth placed Franklin County.

FC (3-7) will travel to Magee (9-0) next week, Wesson will play at Jefferson Davis County (6-4), while South Pike (9-1) hosts Seminary (9-2) and Jefferson County hosts Hazlehurst (3-6) in what should be a lively set of first round matchups between Region 7 and Region 6.

Wesson trailed 26-14 at halftime, but coach Jeremy Loy’s Cobras came out hot in the third quarter to go ahead 28-26 late in that quarter.

A touchdown pass from Cole Gibson to DeShawn Smith was the first score of the third quarter and then Smith added a rushing touchdown later in the third quarter to put Wesson up.

Jefferson county answered with a rushing touchdown from quarterback Royale Shelvy in the fourth quarter.

The final Wesson lead of the night came when Gibson hit Damarion Smith for a 51-yard touchdown pass that put them ahead 34-32.

The lead didn’t hold though, as Shelvy answered with a 51-yard touchdown pass of his own to put JC back ahead 38-34 with six minutes remaining in the game. The Tigers then got a later score to further ice the game.

Sacred Heart 28, Enterprise 20

The Enterprise Yellow Jackets will enter the postseason next week as the fourth seed out of MHSAA Region 8-1A after losing in Hattiesburg to Sacred Heart on Thursday. Lumberton (8-2) won the division with a 5-0 record. East Marion (4-6) finished second at 4-1, with its lone loss coming to Lumberton. Sacred Heart (8-2) finished third at 3-2, followed by EAC with a 2-3 mark.

There is still much, much left to play for as this senior laden Enterprise squad has won more games this season than any team since the 2005 group, a team that finished 6-5 overall and also made the 1A postseason.

“We lost Dalan Barden before half and Ayden Arevalo was sick and couldn’t play against Sacred Heart, but we had some self-inflicted mistakes that killed us,” said EAC coach Trey Woodard. “We had punt snap issues and we lost the running back in man-coverage and that score  was the difference in the game.”

On Friday, the Jackets will make the trip to Hollandale for their first-round game against a team with a strong 1A championship tradition in the Simmons High Blue Devils. Simmons won three straight state titles from 2015-2017 and are 9-0 this season, having given up just 12 total points all year.

The hope is that Enterprise will present a battle-tested opponent, something Simmons has not faced much this season. The combined record of the Blue Devils nine opponents is 28-47. Hollandale is located on Highway 61, south of the Washington County seat of Greenville.

The first-round playoff trip will cover approximately 150 miles for coach Trey Woodard and his team.

Bogue Chitto 23, Wilkinson County 8

The Bogue Chitto Bobcats wrapped up the regular season with a 23-8 home win on Troy Smith Field over the Wilkinson County Wildcats. 

The Bobcats and coach BJ Smithhart will host a playoff game on Friday, taking on the St. Andrew’s Episcopal Saints in the MHSAA 2A postseason. The Saints have some experience against Lincoln County teams this season, beating West Lincoln 27-8 and losing 44-7 at Enterprise.

Amite County 62, West Lincoln 0

West Lincoln football ended the 2024 season with a road loss to Amite County on Thursday in Liberty. The Trojans (3-6) will travel to play at Pisgah (9-1) next week in the opening round of the MHSAA 2A playoffs.

The Bears (1-9) have a six-man graduating class for first year head Johnny Ball. They are Caden Seay, Tyler Hall, Hayz Boyte, Chance Stewart, Rhett Hedgepeth, and Joseph Martin.

Forrest County AHS 14, Lawrence County 6

The Lawrence County Cougars (3-6) dropped a Region 7-4A road game in Brooklyn to wrap up the regular season. The Cougars have qualified for the postseason, finishing ahead of a Sumrall team that beat them head-to-head.

The Cougars will be on the road next week in the opening round of the MHSAA 4A postseason, making the short trip to play at McComb (3-4). Everyone in Region 6-4A, of which McComb won, made the playoffs as there were only four teams in the division following the closing of Wingfield High.

McComb beat Lanier (7-2) in Jackson 21-16, and then cruised past Richland (1-8) and Raymond (3-4) in its other region games by 48-14 and 42-0 scores respectively.

Last season, McComb finished unbeaten in the regular season before losing 28-25 to Lawrence County in the first round of the 4A playoffs.