The explosive offense was there, and the deep passing game was clicking to perfection. The points were piling up on the scoreboard and the crowd was going wild.

For the first time in a long time, however, the Porters Chapel Eagles were watching it all unfold on the other side of the field.

Their own passes, the ones that had so often found receivers over the course of the season, were clanging to the ground. The football was slipping out of their hand at an alarming rate, their own crowd was silent and their side of the scoreboard was stuck on the same single digit for what seemed like an eternity.

By the time they figured out a way to stop it, it was too late. Copiah Academy was ahead by more than 30 points and booking a return trip to Clinton for Thursday’s MPSA Class AA championship game against Kirk Academy.

Copiah quarterback Daniel Sims threw three long touchdown passes in the first half – two of them to Hunter Greer – and the Colonels bolted to a 35-3 halftime lead en route to a 35-22 victory in the Class AA South State championship game.

&#8220They came out extremely ready to play and absolutely took it to us,” PCA coach Randy Wright said. &#8220That’s what you call a good old country butt-whupping.”

PCA quarterback Hayden Hales had one of his worst games of the season, completing 13 of 40 passes for 188 yards and two touchdowns, with one interception. He also lost two fumbles and was held to 33 rushing yards on 11 carries, after rushing for nearly 1,000 yards in the regular season.

Hales’ struggles were just a few of the ones for the Eagles in general, though. In addition to several blown coverages that led to Sims’ touchdown passes, PCA turned the ball over four times and allowed Copiah (9-4) to score on four of its last six drives in the first half.

The miscues ended a strong season for PCA (9-4), which reached the state semifinals for the second straight season and made a successful leap from Class A to AA. The Eagles won two road playoff games and reached the postseason for the third consecutive year.

&#8220We sure thought this was our year. We thought we had the best team. We just got outplayed tonight,” said PCA receiver Michael Busby, who caught three passes for 76 yards and one touchdown.

PCA’s troubles started early, and quickly piled up into an insurmountable deficit.

On Copiah’s first possession, Sims hit Greer on a deep post over the middle for a 68-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead with 7:49 to go in the first quarter.

An exchange of fumbles deep in Copiah territory led to a 22-yard field goal by Busby that cut it to 7-3. But the Colonels took off from there, while PCA got stuck in neutral.

Sims hit Greer on the same post pattern over the middle and Greer outran the defense for a 76-yard TD and a 14-3 lead. The teams then exchanged punts before Sims threw another deep ball over the middle to Bennett Wilson. PCA defensive back Robbie Simms fell down as Wilson hauled it in, and the Copiah receiver ran 64 yards for another long touchdown and a 21-3 lead with 10:13 to play in the second quarter.

All three touchdown passes came against man coverage, with no PCA safety back deep. Sims said the plays were designed to take advantage of it.

&#8220They didn’t have a safety over the top and we figured we’d lay it in there and go for big plays,” said Sims, who completed 4 of 5 passes for 220 yards in the first half, and finished 5-for-9 for 227 yards with the three TDs and no interceptions.

Copiah added two more touchdowns on runs of 8 and 7 yards by Brandon Greer to push the lead to 35-3 with 4:32 left in the first half. PCA had a first-and-goal at the 9 late in the first half, but four straight plays netted zero yards.

It was a missed opportunity that came back to haunt the Eagles.

After completing just 6 of 21 passes in the first half and fumbling on PCA’s first offensive play of the second, Hales got hot late in the third quarter. He threw a 36-yard touchdown pass to Busby with 1:57 left and then, after a successful onside kick, a 15-yard scoring strike to Cole Smith with 31 seconds to play.

A pair of unsuccessful 2-point conversion attempts left the score at 35-15, but the Eagles were finally showing some signs of life – especially after they forced a three-and-out on Copiah’s first series of the fourth quarter.

Busby returned the ensuing punt 34 yards to the Copiah 36, but the Colonels buckled down. Kent Miller and Preston Berry sacked Hales on consecutive plays, then they flushed him out of the pocket and forced an off-balance heave that was intercepted by Wilson at the Copiah 11.

The interception effectively ended any hopes of a miraculous comeback. Hales threw four straight incompletions on PCA’s next – and final – possession. Joey Gerache returned a Copiah fumble 82 yards for a touchdown with 2:32 left in the game, but it was too little, too late. The Colonels recovered an onside kick and ran out the clock.

&#8220We felt like we could come back, but we were going to have to score on every possession,” Wright said. &#8220We had the ball enough times in the second half, we just couldn’t put it in the end zone.”