One can expect big crowds on Friday when both Brookhaven High and Loyd Star host MHSAA home playoff games in the 5A and 2A football quarterfinals respectively.

With its two wins thus far in the postseason, this 2024 edition of Loyd Star football has already written its name in the program’s record books. The school has only had one season when it won two playoff games, the memorable 2001 campaign that ended in the 2A semifinals under former coach Anthony Hart.

A win on Friday for BHS would put the Panthers into the 5A South State Championship game for the first time since the 2010 team made its unforgettable run to being runner-up in 5A after finishing fourth in its region for current head coach Tucker Peavey.

If you can, get out and support one of these schools in person on Friday. It’ll finally feel like football weather, with the high on Friday forecast as 60 degrees.

There were plenty of open seats at King Field last Friday, as perhaps some fans didn’t show up because they expected BHS to roll over Vancleave, a school it beat 55-7 last season in the 5A first round.

The Bulldogs from Jackson County put up a fight though and trailed by only one score in the fourth quarter, before Brookhaven High was able to pull away late for a 42-21 win.

Brookhaven High junior running back Caiden Quarles continued his streak of big games with a 245-yard, two touchdown effort. Quarles carried the ball 12 times and averaged a whopping 20.4 yards per carry. Sophomore quarterback Jaden Allen also had one passing score (which went to Quarles for 52 yards) and one rushing touchdown in the win.

Junior defensive back EJ Ratliff had a game to remember for the Panthers against Vancleave, as he intercepted three passes and returned one of them for a touchdown during the fourth quarter for BHS. Sophomore defensive back Cortavian Dixon also nabbed an interception, his second of the season.

As a team, BHS has excelled at creating turnovers in 2024. Defensive coordinator Corey McLaurin has seen his group of defenders snag 22 interceptions and recover 15 fumbles in 11 games, averaging over three created turnovers per outing.

Part of the formula for picking off passes is putting pressure on the quarterback up front, which is another thing that the BHS defense has done well.

Senior defensive tackle Christian Jones leads the way with 12 sacks this season.

For a 5A school, BHS has a light senior class, with only a dozen 12th graders on the roster. That group was sophomores in 2022, when the Panthers finished 1-9 by winning the final game of the season at home over South Jones.

Last season the program rebounded to finish 7-5 and the season ended with a close loss at Laurel in the 5A second round.

There is a lot of young talent on the roster, but good teams need juniors and seniors to help enforce the standards set by their coaches.

Joining Jones in the senior class for BHS are Devion Brown, Jacob Williams, Jamaal Brown, Wiliam Buie, Samarion Buckley, Rameriaze Edwards, James McCullough, Durrielle Smith, Marqueze Black, Colt Piper, and Gaylon Gayten.

Similarly at Loyd Star, the 2A Hornets also don’t have a ton of seniors on the roster. Like at BHS, the class with the most starters is likely the sophomore group.

Seniors for the Hornets are Zack Cotton, Luke Cotton, Brandon Jenkins, and Braxton Williams. Like the seniors at Brookhaven High, this quartet should be celebrated for the way they’ve steadied the ship in 2024 and helped push their team to a high level.

Loyd Star is currently 10-2 a year after also going 10-2 in the first year under head coach Adam Smith in 2023. The program went a combined 59-13 from 1995-2001 under Roe Burns and Hart and this is as good a run for Loyd Star football since those glory days nearly 30 years ago.

Trailing Mize 24-14 at halftime last Friday in the MHSAA 2A second round, LS got 16 points in the third quarter to jump ahead via two touchdown runs by sophomore Jordyn Kees.

The lead grew to 36-24 in the fourth quarter via another Kees touchdown and the Hornets ended the game with a 38-32 win.

Next up for the Hornets is another Smith County foe in the Raleigh Lions. The Lions are 11-1 and this is the first ever meeting between the schools.

The lone loss of the season for Raleigh was a 14-0 defeat to unbeaten 3A school Magee High. Raleigh started the playoffs with a 47-0 win over Wilkinson County and followed that up with an 18-0 victory last week against Scott Central.

Coached by Ryan Higdon, Raleigh went 14-1 in 2022 and won the MHSAA 3A state championship before dropping down to 2A for the past two seasons. The title team starred Suntarine Perkins, now a standout linebacker at Ole Miss. Last year, Raleigh went 11-3 and was beaten in the 2A semifinals 16-6 by Heidelberg High.

The winner between Loyd Star and Raleigh will meet the winner of Bay Springs (9-3) and Heidelberg (11-1) in the 2A semifinals.

Brookhaven High will welcome the Stone County Tomcats (6-5) to King Field on Friday. Stone beat Florence High 17-14 last week in Lucedale. The winner between BHS and Stone will meet the winner of Wayne County (5-7) and Gautier (10-1) in the 5A semifinals.

Just doing a quick scan of the remaining playoff games played around the state, there aren’t too many counties that have two teams left playing.

Bay Springs and Heidelberg are both in Jasper County and Raleigh isn’t the only Smith County school playing, as Taylorsville is alive in the 1A bracket. Germantown and Madison Central meet up in an all Madison County matchup in the 7A bracket and there are others that meet that criteria, but not a ton.

 I don’t know which game you plan on seeing Friday, but again, make the effort to support one of these schools this week. 

My plan is to spend some time at both games on Friday.

A special shoutout goes out to the radio teams for each school, Greg Russell and Terry Britt at Loyd Star and Mark Lewis, Rob Fisher, Jeff Richardson, and Shannon Aker at Brookhaven High, as they make it so you can be in two places at once with their work on calling the games. 

A couple weeks ago, after the end of the regular season against Natchez, I saw the aforementioned Christian Jones in a local grocery store parking lot.

He’s a guy young players should keep an eye on as he fights off would-be blockers with sustained effort and energy throughout four quarters.

You would hate trying to block him.

What a year, you guys have had, I said to him, remembering when we talked back in July, ahead of him being on the cover of our annual football magazine.

“Oh yeah,” he says with a 1,000-watt smile.

“It’s not over yet,” he adds. “We want to go all the way.”

The Panthers and the Hornets have not gone “all the way” yet, but as one of the eight remaining teams in each of their classes, they’ve already made an impressive run in 2024 that should make all the sports fans in Lincoln County and Brookhaven proud.

Sports Editor Cliff Furr can be reached at sports@dailyleader.com.