Rebels drop road decision to Jackson Academy

Rebels drop road decision to Jackson Academy

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The Leake Academy Rebels made the trip to Jackson with hopes of a win over the Class 6A power Jackson Academy Raiders.

In a defensive struggle, the Rebels came up short as the Raiders held on to take a 10-6 win on Friday night.

Jackson Academy improves to 2-0 on the season while Leake falls to 1-1. The Rebels will host Starkville Academy on Friday night in a 7 p.m. contest.

“It was a tough, physical game,” Leake coach Brian Pickens said. “Our defense played really well and good enough for us to win. They were really good on defense and we had a hard time moving the football. It’s a game we could have won but we just came up short. We’ve got to clean up some things and get better this week.”

On the first drive of the game, the Raiders turned the ball over as Riley Myers intercepted a JA pass. On their second drive, JA drove deep inside Leake territory but the Rebels got another turnover. This time, Bryce Watkins forced a fumble and Dylan Jones recovered as the first quarter ended tied at 0-0.

The second quarter was more of the same. The Raiders got as deep Leake 16 late in the second and settled for a 36-yard field goal by Andrew Harrison with 3:04 left in the half to take a 3-0.

The Rebels got the ball to start the second half where Bishop Hardin returned 32 yards. Rhett Atkinson then hit Riley Myers on a 23-yard pass to put the Rebels in JA territory for the first time in the game. Two plays later, Atkinson hooked up with Myers on a 33-yard touchdown pass with 10:31 left in the third. Matthew Nowell’s PAT was wide left and the Rebels led 6-3. 

Leake punted on its next two possessions before JA finally took the lead back with 3:21 left in the third as Omarean Ellis scored on a 58-yard touchdown run. The PAT was good and JA led 10-6.

With quarterback Rhett Atkinson on the bench with an injury, the Rebels struggled on offense. They did get into JA territory midway through the fourth when Whitt Welch ripped off a 34-yard run. But backup George Wilcox was intercepted to end the threat. 

Leake got one more chance in the last minutes as they got as deep as the JA 40 but a desperation pass by Wilcox on fourth down was intercepted as the Raiders secured the win.

The Rebels had 169 yards of total offense with 98 rushing and 71 passing. Atkinson was 2-of-9 passing for 56 yards with one TD while George Wilcox was 2-of-5 for 15 yards with two interceptions. On the ground, Whitt Welch had 111 yards on 20 carries while Myers had 18 yards on five carries. Myers had three catches for 69 yards.






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