From staff reports

Even in defeat last week, the Tallulah Trojans had plenty of reason to smile.

Tallulah scored seven touchdowns and took district 6-A co-leader Huntington to the wire before losing 58-49. It was the best offensive showing for the Trojans against their three toughest opponents so far this season, and a nice rebound from a 42-14 loss to Trinity the week before.

“It makes us all feel better,” Tallulah coach Doug Branning said, adding that Huntington’s own offensive success was not the result of breakdowns by Tallulah’s defense. “We played about as well as we could. They had a lot to do with us not tackling very well. They had a couple running backs that we couldn’t handle. It wasn’t a lack of effort.”

The loss to Huntington ended any slim hopes Tallulah (4-4) had of earning one of two automatic playoff berths from District 6-A. Tallulah is still very much alive for a wild-card berth, however, with relatively easy games against Sharkey-Issaquena (1-7) tonight and CENLA Christian (3-4) next week, before a season-ending showdown at Briarfield (6-2) on Halloween night.

Tallulah, Veritas, and the third-place team from District 4-A — either Newton, Sylva Bay or Wayne Academy — are all clustered together in the chase for two wild-card spots. Tallulah can likely control its own destiny by winning out.

Hinds AHS hosts Wesson

The War Dawgs lost a key region game last Friday night to St. Andrew’s and are in second place in the region with a home game against Wesson on tap for this evening.

Darious Newton is nearing 1,000 yards rushing for the season and is second in the area in rushing yards.

Leland at South Delta

The Region 4-2A competition steps up for the Bulldogs (5-2, 3-0) when they host the Leland Cubs (5-2, 3-0) in a meeting that will leave the winner in first place.

“Leland is really tough,” South Delta coach Derrick Hooker said. “They have all their starters back on both sides of the ball from last year and their skilled people are really good.”

Since losing to a pair of schools from Bolivar County in East Side and West Bolivar, the Bulldogs have earned five wins, including three in the region. They beat O’Bannon 26-0 last week.

“We’ve done pretty good despite being so young on the offensive line,” Hooker said. “We only have one guy back.”

Running back Darrell Barnes leads South Delta with more than 900 yards rushing this season.

Wossman at Madison Parish

Winless Madison Parish hosts Wossman out of Monroe in a district game. The Jaguars (0-6, 0-1) lost their district opener to Rayville 42-0 last week.

Briarfield at N. Sunflower

The Rebels (6-2, 5-1) enter the easy portion of their schedule with a road trip to Sunflower County to meet NSA (1-7), one of the weakest teams in the MPSA. NSA lost 48-6 to Sharkey-Issaquena, for its only win in its last 20 games. Briarfield is coming off a 47-0 rout of Deer Creek that had entered fourth in the district standings.

Port Gibson at Brookhaven

Port Gibson’s losing streak reached 15 games with last week’s 52-8 setback against Forest Hill. The Blue Waves (0-6) have been outscored 66-0 in the first half the last two weeks.