Vicksburg High and Tylertown left reality Friday night and crossed over into football la-la land.

The teams took turns zipping down the field, neither able to stop the other. They combined for nearly 1,000 yards of offense and more than 100 points.

By the time the dust settled, records were broken, legs were tired and Tylertown had escaped Memorial Stadium with a wild 63-42 victory.

Vicksburg High quarterback Cameron Cooksey had a record-setting night in the loss. He completed 30 of 50 passes for 438 yards and six touchdowns.

The touchdown total tied the Warren County single-game record set by Temple’s William Wooley in 1970. Three of Cooksey’s touchdowns went to A.J. Stamps, who caught 10 passes for 194 yards.

Cooksey’s yardage total broke the county record of 406 set by Vicksburg’s James Jackson in an overtime game against Brookhaven in 2003. It also left Cooksey less than 200 yards short of the career mark set by Ernest Moore from 1971-73.

“It’s nice, but it would’ve been better to have a win,” Cooksey said.

Tylertown’s Chris Jones countered Cooksey’s big passing night with a huge rushing total. The speedy junior ran for 229 yards and five touchdowns — most of it in the second half — to lead the Chiefs (4-0).

At halftime, Jones only had eight carries for 19 yards and a single touchdown. As a team, Tylertown had 87 yards. The Chiefs finished with 447 yards on the ground. Peyton Denton had 197 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries.

“They always say run beats pass,” Tylertown coach Walter Denton said with a smile. “They did a great job. We were lucky.”

                                                                                      

Tylertown 63, VHS 42

Records: Tylertown (4-0), Vicksburg (1-2)

The skinny: VHS quarterback Cooksey sets two records, but Gators fall short

Up next: Vicksburg hosts Lawrence County

                                                                                      

Although offense dominated the game, the outcome turned on two defensive plays.

In the first quarter, Cooksey lobbed a pass over the middle right to Tylertown’s Sam Magee. The defensive back weaved in and out of traffic to return it 45 yards for a touchdown that made it 14-0.

Vicksburg was able to erase that deficit, but in the third quarter Cooksey was hit as he threw in the end zone. The ball floated toward the sideline on an out pattern and was easily picked off by Maquille Bridges, who trotted 5 yards into the end zone for a 42-21 Tylertown lead.

“I got hit as I released. Both of my receivers got jammed. It was all off. I tried to throw it out of bounds but I got hit and couldn’t get it out of bounds,” Cooksey said.

The Gators, who went into haltime down 28-21, were playing catch-up the rest of the way. Bridges’ interception return was the second turnover of the half for the Gators, and both led to Tylertown touchdowns. In all, the Gators turned the ball over five times and Tylertown scored off of three of them.

“We came out of the half and had momentum on our side. We got off the page and that slowed it down and took the momentum away from our defense. We’ve just got to do better as a whole team,” Cooksey said.