Rebels fall to 3-3 on season after Copiah Academy's 28-21 win

It was another tough loss on the road for the Leake Academy football team last week.

The Rebels fell behind early but rallied late to make the game interesting before falling 28-21 in District 2-5A play on Friday.

Leake falls to 3-3 on the season and will return home this week to host Pillow Academy for homecoming.

“It was a tough game but our kids never quit,” Leake coach Brian Pickens said. “Copiah is really good on defense and gave us fits in the first half. They did a really good job of running the football and we didn’t tackle very well. But even after we got down 21-0, our kids didn’t quit and fought to the last play of the game and I was proud of that. But in the end, we have to be better on both sides of the ball. We have to tackle better, block better, throw it better, run it better and catch it better.”

The Colonels dominated the first half and led 14-0 as they scored on a 60-yard run in the first quarter and a 10-yard pass in the second quarter.

Copiah then scored on a 31-yard run in the third quarter and led 21-0 before the Rebels got going on offense.

Leake finally got going midway through the third quarter as the Rebels went 61 yards on six plays. After a big 22-yard completion to Matthan Weaver, Wilcox hit Matthew Nowell on a 10-yard touchdown pass. Nowell also hit the PAT and Copiah led 21-7.

Leake had 389 yards passing and only 36 yards rushing for 425 yards of total offense.

Weaver had two carries for 14 yards while Garrett Adcock had 13 yards on six carries. Weaver also had 128 yards receiving on 11 catches while Nowell had 10 grabs of 110 yards. Adcock had two catches for 81 yards while Majure Chandler had two catches for 39 yards. Jack Harkins had two catches for 31 yards.

The Rebels will return home after a two-game stretch on the road and host Pillow Academy for homecoming.