Leake Academy plays Jamboree

The Leake Academy football team made its annual trek to Tri-County Academy for their fall jamboree.

The Rebels took a pair of late-minute wins as they beat Canton 7-6 and Riverfield 7-0 in a pair of 20-minute games. Leake will now open the regular season at home on Friday as they host Jackson Academy.

Leake Academy coach Brian Pickens saw a mix of good and bad from his young football team.

“We saw some good things and saw some things we have to improve on,” Pickens said. “That’s why you play in a jamboree, to see what you need to work on. We made some big plays in the passing game and were able to make some big plays late. We kept on fighting and overcame some mistakes and were able to score late in both games and I was proud of that.”

Against Canton, the Tigers took an early lead on a 25-yard touchdown run. But the Rebels stopped the two-point conversion and led 6-0. 

George Wilcox hit Matthan Weaver on an 8-yard touchdown pass with 17 seconds left in the scrimmage. Matthew Nowell hit the PAT and Leake took a 7-6 win over the Panthers. 

Against Riverfield, Leake once again got the ball late and went 65 yards thanks to some big plays in the passing game. Kaden Chipley then competed the drive with a 4-yard touchdown run. Nowell hit the PAT.

Other area prep football teams will be playing jamboree games. Philadelphia will visit Newton High School on Thursday and Neshoba Central will host Northwest Rankin on Friday night with both games starting at 7 p.m. Choctaw Central will play Lanier Saturday in the Louisville jamboree starting at 12:45 p.m. Union will not be in action this week.