Rebels swat Yellowjackets as they roll to 47-8 victory

Last year, Union scored 35 second-half points to pull away from Leake Academy.

This year, it was the Rebels that pulled away from the Yellowjackets as they scored 34 unanswered points and took a 47-8 win over Union on Friday night at A.L. Thaggard Field in Madden.

Leake improves to 3-1 on the season while Union falls to 0-3.

Leake coach Brian Pickens said he was proud of the effort from his team that won its third straight game and even the series with Union at two games apiece.

“I thought we played really well on both sides of the ball,” Pickens said. “Union is a lot better than their record. But we jumped on them early and made some big plays in the passing game. I was really proud of our secondary. We had five interceptions and that was big. I thought we were very balanced on offense and threw the ball well. Matthew (Nowell) had another big game and just did what he does. It was a good win and I was proud for our seniors on Senior night.”

Leake got the ball to start the game and went 72 yards in three plays. Garrett Adcock opened the game with a 33-yard run and George Wilcox hit Matthew Nowell on a 30-yard touchdown pass. Nowell missed the PAT and Leake led 6-0.

After Leake forced a Union punt, the Rebels went 82 yards in five plays. After a big 45-yard screen pass to Adcock, Wilcox hit Nowell on a 31-yard touchdown pass with 5:25 left in the first quarter. Nowell hit the PAT and Leake led 13-0.

The two teams swapped punts end the first quarter before Union used a 17-play drive that included a fake punt. Aiden Davis scored on a 3-yard run and also ran in the two-point conversion as Leake ld 13-8 with 7:51 left in the second quarter.

The Rebels answered with 13-play, 65-yard drive and scored when Wilcox hit Nowell on a 5-yard touchdown pass with 3:25 left in the half. The PAT failed again and Leake led 19-8.

Nowell got the ball back for Leake with an interception. The Rebels then went 69 yards in seven plays as Wilcox scored on a 1-yard touchdown run with five seconds left in the half. Wilcox hit Jack Harkins on the two-point conversion and Leake led 27-8 at the half.

“I think the biggest thing for us is we have to stop giving up the long ball on defense and have to stop turning the ball over on offense,” Union coach Jordan Wren said. “We threw five interceptions and have 15 turnovers in three games. You aren’t going to win many games turning the ball over that many times. We did some good things running the football and if we can put those two together, we would be pretty effective.”

The two teams traded interceptions to start the second half. On Union’s second possession of the half, Brayden Welch picked off a Myilan Moore pass and returned it 51 yards for a touchdown with 6:35 left in the third quarter. The PAT failed again and Leake led 33-8.

Leake got the ball back again as Jack Harkins got his second interception of the game. Adcock then ripped off an 18-yard touchdown run and Nowell booted the PAT and Leake led 40-8 with 4:34 left in the third quarter.

Leake’s last touchdown was set up by a Grayson McDonald interception and 48-yard return. John David Gill then scored on a 3-yard run and Nowell kicked the PAT with 5:45 left in the game as Leake led 47-8.

Leake had 228 yards passing and 135 rushing for 363 yards of total offense. Wilcox was 15-of-26 passing for 228 yards with three TDs and one interceptions. Nowell had another big night with six catches for 85 yards and three TDs while Majure Chandler had four catches for 44 yards. Matthan Weaver had two catches for 34 yards and one rush for 29 yards.

Adcock led the rushing attack with 63 yards on 10 carries with a TD while John David Gill had 47 yards on 11 carries with one TDS.

On defense, Coby Kemp led the Rebels with 12 tackles while Grayson McDonald had 6.5 tackles with an interception. Nowell had 5.5 tackles with an interception while Brayden Welch had five tackles with an interception. Joshua Gray had four tackles while Jack Harkins had three tackles with two interceptions. Gage Bennett also had three tackles while Tyler Winstead had 2.5 tackles.

For Union, the Yellowjackets had 111 yards passing and 166 yards rushing. Moore was 9-of-19 passing for 111 yards with five interceptions. Mason Tucker had seven catches for 96 yards. Moore also had 60 yards rushing on 10 carries while Quinn Harris had 60 yards rushing on eight carries.

On defense, Zi Buckley had seven tackles while Aidan Davis had six tackles with a sack. Quinn Harris also had four tackles while Moore had three tackles and an interception.

Leake will hit the road this week as they head to Columbus to take on Heritage. The Patriots are 4-1 on the season with wins over Winston (50-25), Canton (21-13), Biggersville (32-6) and Pillow (56-32). Their lone loss was to unbeaten Hartfield (49-7).

Union will return home as they host Newton County. The Cougars are also 0-3 on the season with losses to Winona (39-39), Raleigh (25-6) and Poplarville (34-31).