Oak Forest may have scored the first touchdown but North Pike showed the Yellowjackets that who has the most at the end is what counts as the Jaguars won their homecoming 26-14 on Friday night.
North Pike, boosted by a lot of energy from players and fans who packed John I. Hurst Stadium at Southwest Mississippi Community College, subdued the Yellowjackets early on and did not relent.
Tez Fountain scored North Pike’s first touchdown followed by a successful try for an extra point to give the Jaguars a 7-6 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The Jaguars maintained their lead during the second quarter behind good plays from Fountain and Dylan Adams, both of whom scored touchdowns.
After throwing an incomplete to Adams, Fountain ran in a touchdown on the very next play, with a successful extra point kick by Kreider Henderson following.
Later, Adams ran in a 41-yard touchdown, and the Jaguars held a 20-6 lead at the half.
The rest of the game did not disappoint North Pike fans.
Tyric Miller intercepted a pass and ran an impressive 78 yards to score another touchdown for the Jaguars.
North Pike stayed ahead for the rest of the game.
Head coach Chris Smith said his team’s consistency paid off.
“We came out and played four quarters again,” he said. “We played well. We tried to play a little ball control and keep them off the field some. We threw the ball enough to be successful and make some big plays.”
Smith said he didn’t put much consideration into it being homecoming, calling the contest “just another game.”
“The big important part of it was getting on a roll for district next week,” he said. “Homecoming or just a regular game — it doesn’t matter. You’ve got to win them and keep going in the right direction going into district play.”
The uncommon matchup between the Jaguars and a Louisiana private school — Oak Forest is from Amite — marked the Jaguars’ last non-district game of the season.
Smith said he hopes the team can shake off injuries before taking on Lawrence County next week.
“We’ve got to be ready. We’re banged up,” he said. “Both of my middle linebackers were out tonight. About halfway into the game we lost a nose guard and lost another tackle, so we’re really banged up. We’ve got to figure out some kind of way to get well. ... We’ve got to get healthy. We have a lot of injuries.”
Fountain had 101 rushing on 15 carries for 2 touchdowns. Bryceon Magee ran the ball hard, rushing for 143 yards on 17 carries. Dylan Adams caught six passes for 121 yards and scored a touchdown.
Ronnie Bates led the Jaguars defensively with eight tackles.
Smith also had praise for the offensive line, which is made up entirely of seniors.
