South State Championship weekend is here! There are two games in the area and James Pugh and Kevan Lindsey have their picks in. Agree or disagree?
West Jones at Pascagoula
West Jones has advanced to its third-straight Class 5A South State Championship.
Earlier in the season, West Jones fell to Laurel by a narrow margin, 19-13, in its only on-field loss of the season. Last Friday night — to advance to this week’s South State showdown vs. Pascagoula — West Jones made its case as 5A South’s best team.
Pascagoula entered the playoffs as a No. 1 seed, despite two on-field losses to Gautier and East Central. The Panthers' points allowed to points scored ratio (300/310) doesn't look too favorable for them, especially for a team that's in the South State Championship.
Common sense would say that Pascagoula is highly vulnerable, but this is the playoffs, and anything can happen.
West Jones has struggled with turnovers in 2020, at times, and that makes them vulnerable. As cliche as it sounds, win the turnover battle, and the Mustangs win the game. It’s as simple as that.
James’ Prediction: West Jones 42, Pascagoula 14.
Enterprise-Clarke at Taylorsville
This is it. A fourth-straight South State Championship appearance with a fourth-straight 2A State Championship appearance on the line. It only keeps getting bigger from here.
Enterprise-Clarke gave Taylorsville all they could handle a few short weeks ago, with it taking a game-winning throw from Ty Keyes to get the win.
Taylorsville head coach Mitch Evans believes his Tartars didn’t play to the best of their ability against the Bulldogs and believes if they do it won’t take a late-game touchdown to win. Enterprise-Clarke will want to prove that’s not the case.
I see another close game, but not one that needs a touchdown pass late. Keyes and company set their sights on three-out-of-four next week in Jackson.
Kevan’s prediction: Taylorsville 36, Enterprise-Clarke 22.
