On a historic night for Porter’s Chapel Academy’s football team, John Wyatt Massey provided a performance to match.

The senior quarterback set a Warren County single-game record with seven touchdown passes to lead PCA to a 53-18 victory over Deer Creek in the second round of the MAIS Class 2A playoffs on Friday.

Massey also set Warren County’s single-season record for touchdown passes. He now has 40, two more than Vicksburg High’s Cameron Cooksey had in 2011.

“It’s great, but sometimes the receivers make plays and make you look good. It isn’t all about you with these records,” said Massey, who completed 13 of 16 passes for 304 yards. It was the first 300-yard passing game by a Warren County quarterback since 2018.

PCA (12-0) advanced to the semifinals for the first time since 2008. It will go on the road to play DeSoto School (11-0) next Friday to try and earn its first-ever trip to a state championship game.

DeSoto School beat Ben’s Ford 50-14 in another second-round game on Friday.

“It’s the next one. This is three years in a row that we’ve been able to advance and build on what we’ve done. It’s what we set out to do each year, is to take the next step,” PCA coach Blake Purvis said. “This group’s bought in, they’ve put themselves in the position, and they were able to take the next step. But their story’s not done. We’ve got a lot left to write.”

Massey’s first touchdown pass came on a trick play on the first play of the game. Massey lined up at receiver and caught a lateral behind the line, then tossed it deep to Ty Mack for a 54-yard touchdown.

“I was thinking, ‘Uh-oh, this might not be good.’ With trick plays it can go one way or the complete opposite. It’s a little scary, but we executed it pretty well,” Massey said.

Massey added two more touchdowns in the first quarter, a 31-yarder to Mack and 10-yard dart to Taylor Labarre, to put PCA ahead 22-0.

Deer Creek cut it to 22-12 in the second quarter before the Eagles pulled away with another quick burst.
Jase Jung ripped off a 25-yard TD run, then intercepted a pass on Deer Creek’s next series. Massey completed all three of his passes on PCA’s ensuing drive, the last an 18-yard touchdown to Mack.

The Eagles then recovered an onsides kick with 33 seconds left and went down the field again. A 15-yard run by Jung was followed by two passes from Massey to Labarre to reach the end zone. The second pass covered 23 yards and was Massey’s fifth TD of the half. It sent PCA into halftime with a 40-12 lead.

“They were starting to build momentum and that took the wind completely out of their sails,” Massey said. “We were struggling. We got in our head, we were beating ourselves, basically. Being able to get those got us back into the game when we let it slip away.”

Massey tied the county record with an 11-yard TD to Mack in the third quarter, then broke it when Labarre split the defense on a short route over the middle and went 67 yards for the score.

Mack also had a historic game, with six receptions for 150 yards and four touchdowns. He is only the sixth Warren County player to ever have four touchdown receptions in a game.

Labarre finished with four catches for 107 yards and three touchdowns.

Jung had a nice game on the ground, with 23 carries for 182 rushing yards and one TD. He had two interceptions on defense, as well.

Deer Creek quarterback Bo Ray was 11-of-24 passing for 144 yards and two touchdowns, while Javion Williams finished with 97 combined yards rushing and receiving and scored twice.

“People are going to have a good plan to combat one or two things that we do. They had a good plan against the run game and I think we still ran for over 200 yards. We were still doing stuff,” Purvis said. “But (Massey) stepping up and being able to make throws under pressure and put them all up where receivers have a chance to go make plays … when we do that, that really adds an element that makes us really tough.”