PCA finds jump in class no big deal|[11/20/06]

Published 12:00 am Monday, November 20, 2006

Eagles set to battle Copiah on Friday night with state championship trip in the balance.

Heading into this season, the biggest question about Porters Chapel’s football team was how well it would handle the jump from Class A to Class AA.

The answer: Pretty darn well.

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PCA, a semifinalist in the MPSA’s Class A playoffs last season, reached the Class AA semifinals by beating Brookhaven Academy on Friday. The victory was PCA’s sixth straight, and it has scored at least 30 points in every game during the streak.

The explosive offense, a defense that gets the job done when it has to, and a stunning upset of Class AA favorite Leake has vaulted the Eagles from potential sleeper to frontrunner.

PCA hosts Copiah Academy in the South State final on Friday night. Kirk – which handed Leake its first loss – will play at Winston in the North State final.

&#8220It’s been a tough adjustment, but the kids have made plays when we needed them,” PCA coach Randy Wright said. &#8220I look at the fact that we played a tough schedule. I think that’s prepared us for the playoffs.”

That’s a stark contrast to last season.

PCA played one team with a winning record before the 2005 playoffs started and, predictably, dominated. The Eagles allowed just 30 points in 13 games. But once it was in a close game in the Class A North State final against Lee, Ark., PCA struggled.

Contrast that to this season, when the Eagles faced eight regular-season opponents that reached the playoffs. In the last three weeks they’ve gone up against three 1,900-yard rushers and won every time.

&#8220When we started losing, we had a meeting and talked about it and realized we needed to start practicing harder and take it a little more seriously,” senior linebacker and running back Moose Carney said. &#8220Ever since we did that, we’ve been playing good.”

Good is an understatement.

Since dropping a 19-16, double-overtime loss to Riverfield that cost them a third straight district championship, PCA’s offense has been nearly unstoppable.

Using a strange mix of the wishbone and a four-receiver spread attack, PCA has punted only once in two playoff games and has had 8 of 21 possessions last at least nine plays. Despite the ball-control tactics, the Eagles have also been able to air it out when necessary.

Quarterback Hayden Hales has thrown for 2,248 yards and 26 touchdowns this season. His touchdown total is two shy of the Warren County single-season record, shared by Temple’s William Wooley and Vicksburg’s Ernest Moore.

In the playoffs, Hales is 21-for-39, for 415 yards and six touchdowns to three different receivers, with no interceptions. Hales has also been a running threat, with three straight 100-yard games and a team-best 920 yards for the season.

Receivers Michael Busby and Cole Smith have both had 150-yard games in the postseason, and Smith has rewritten the Warren County record books.

He’s set single-season county records for touchdowns (14) and receiving yards (1,147), and is also the all-time career leader in those categories, with 23 TD receptions and 1,606 yards since 2004.

Brookhaven coach Bo Milton has played both Copiah and PCA this season. He said Copiah had several key players miss that Sept. 22 game with injuries, but even when healthy it’s hard for any team to match up with the Eagles right now.

&#8220Copiah wasn’t healthy. But (PCA) can run the football and throw the football, and with all of their weapons they’re hard to stop,” Milton said.