Holmes County beats Canton to cap 11-0 season; Jaguars will play Corinth in MHSAA playoffs
CANTON — Holmes County hasn’t really been known to be a run-first team, but it sure looked the part Thursday night.
The Jaguars used a potent rushing attack and some stiff, second-half defense to get past the Canton Tigers 39-14 to claim the Region 2-5A championship and cap an undefeated regular season.
Holmes County (11-0, 5-0 Region 2-5A) will host Corinth in the first round of the MHSAA Class 5A playoffs on Nov. 10. Canton (4-6, 4-1) will be the No. 2 seed out of Region 2-5A and will host Lafayette next Friday.
“We’re a very multiple team," Holmes County coach Marcus Rogers said. "Some nights we can beat you passing, and upfront (with) scat back that knows how to find holes. I’m proud of this team, our goal each week is to go 1-0 and we’ve done that for 11 weeks and got to continue into the playoffs.”
Canton scored the game’s opening touchdown on a drive that took nearly nine minutes off the clock, as Elijah Lewis dove into the end zone from 5 yards out with 3:02 left in the first quarter.
The Jaguars tied the game on the first play of the second quarter as Garrison Davis scored on a 1-yard run.
Davis added his second rushing touchdown on a six-yard run with 1:24 left in the second quarter to give Holmes County a 14-7 lead.
The Jaguars took the control of the game at the beginning of the second half, as promising sophomore Gavin Howard took the second half opening kickoff 72 yards for a touchdown to extend the Holmes County lead to 21-7.
Howard also had an interception on defense.
“It felt good taking the kickoff back and give my team momentum,” Howard said. “We started out a little rough and made some adjustments. It’s a blessing to be undefeated and the goal is to go 1-0 each week and we got to keep going.”
Antravian Pernell had a 12-yard touchdown run with 7:25 left in the third quarter to extend the Jaguar lead to 27-7.
Eric Gilkey had a 2-yard touchdown run for Canton to cut the Jaguar lead to 27-14.
Davis added an 18-yard touchdown run and Charles Luckett had a 85-yard interception return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter to cap the scoring.
“Canton did a good job of hitting us in the mouth early," Rogers said. "We weathered the storm, made some adjustments and we were able to make plays. Gavin Howard is a big time weapon that we need to get the ball to more.”
Jartavious Smart had 178 yards rushing on 21 carries to lead the Jaguars. Davis had 41 yards rushing and 45 yards passing with three touchdowns.
“Canton had a good plan," Davis said. "But we knew if we just play our game, we will be fine. We did a good job tonight of finding the holes up front, and offensive line did a great job blocking. It’s been a great adjustment coming in and now we’re district champs.”
Lewis had 105 yards rushing with a touchdown to lead Canton. Jermerion Shields added 96 yards rushing for the Tigers. Canton started the season 0-5 and have now ended the season winning four of their last five games
“Turnover at the goal line and giving up the opening kickoff for a touchdown in the second half took momentum away and we could never bounce back,” said Canton coach Calvin Bolton. “Guys played hard, but we still get a home playoff and will try to do something that has never been done at Canton and that’s win a playoff game.”
