West Jones caps perfect 2023 season with win over Grenada in MHSAA 6A football state championship game
OXFORD, Miss. — The West Jones Mustangs rode their rock-solid defense to 13-0, so it was no surprise when it carried them the last mile Friday night in the MHSAA Class 6A State Championship.
The Mustangs suffocated North State champ Grenada for four quarters in a 23-3 victory to clinch the program’s second state championship and first since 2020.
It was the 11th time the West Jones defense had held an opponent to seven or fewer points this season.
“(Our defense) is the heart and soul of this team,” West Jones coach Cory Reynolds said. “I can’t say enough about them and our coaching staff. This scoreboard proves it — it’s hard to win when you can’t score, and our defense is the best in the state.”
Grenada (11-4) finished Friday’s game with 132 yards of total offense, and averaged just 2.6 yards on 51 offensive snaps. They were 2-for-13 on third down attempts and turned it over on downs twice.
There were so many heroes for the Mustangs (14-0), starting with the game’s MVP Rase Jones, who racked up eight tackles, including one for a loss.
The two teams exchanged first half field goals and went into the half tied 3-3. West Jones started to exert control on the game in the third quarter when two interceptions led to two short fields and two West Jones Mustang touchdowns.
Senior linebacker Isaiah “Lunchmeat” Lindsey pulled down the first pick on Grenada’s first possession of the second half. Jones — who serves as the Mustangs’ wildcat quarterback — scored on a two-yard run nine plays later.
Later in the quarter, senior defensive back Keizorrion Carter jumped a route and came up with another interception.
Nine plays later, it was Elijah Jones who barreled in from nine yards out to put West Jones ahead 17-3 with just under 11 minutes left in the ballgame.
“We knew it was going to be a dogfight,” Lindsey said. “We just had to stick with what we’ve been doing all year and eventually we wore them down. Our defense has been relentless like this all season.”
The Mustangs’ sensational freshman quarterback Kymaurion “Tootie” Lindsey iced the game with a 69-yard touchdown run that sent the West Jones fan contingency into hysteria with 4:18 to go.
West Jones rushed for 283 yards as a team, with Elijah Jones and Caleb Holmes combining for 196 yards.
For Reynolds, lifting the golden ball on the field at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium was extra special. The former South Jones head coach, and most recently an offensive coordinator at Oak Grove, took over from legendary West Jones coach Scott Pierson, who retired after last season.
“West Jones is an amazing place,” Reynolds said. “The support we get from the administration and the good, God-fearing people we work with are all apart of this.”
The loss ended what looked like a storybook season for Grenada, which advanced to the state championship for the first time in school history under first-year coach Michael Fair.
“We a couple of second-half turnovers and against a real good team you can’t really do that,” Fair said. “They made us pay for it. We battled all night, and I was really proud of our effort, but we must made too many mistakes.”
MHSAA 6A Championship: West Jones vs. Grenada
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