Poplarville pounds Purvis 33-12
Head Coach Jay Beech discusses the win over Purvis
Purvis--The Poplarville Hornets (13-0) advanced to their second straight Class 4A South State Championship game next Friday night after beating their region rival Purvis 33-12. The lone score in a defensive first half was a 1 yard touchdown run by fullback Peytan Graham with 2:07 left in the second quarter giving the Hornets a 7-0 lead at the break.
Poplarville extended their lead to 13-0 with 8:00 left in the third quarter on a 3 yard run by Cory Knight. The Hornets got the ball near midfield on an interception by D.J. Travis. The point after was blocked.
All photos by Carey Meitzler
Cory Knight (21) running through a big hole
Purvis responded quickly with Ty Howell scoring on a 16 yard run with 6:23 remaining in the third quarter to make it 13 -6. The extra point was wide left.
The Hornets came back with a time consuming drive highlighted by a 29 yard run by quarterback Antonio Barnes. Tyson Holston scored from 13 yards out and Austin Bolton added the two point conversion to make it 21-6 with 2:30 to play in the third quarter.
Antonio Barnes' run (above) setup a Tyson Holston touchdown (below).
Barnes setup another Hornet score with a 62 yard pass to Bolton and Cory Knight punched it in from 2 yards out to make it 27-6 with 8:20 left in the game.
Purvis scored their other touchdown on a touchdown pass to C.J. Bolar with 7:00 left.
Graham added another 1 yard touchdown run with 3:24 left to close out the scoring for Poplarville.
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The Hornets got another strong outing from their defense against a Purvis team that was averaging 30 points a game. The defensive backfield had two big interceptions from D.J. Travis and Canaan Ray to help preserve the win.
Austin Bolton had 151 yards rushing on 20 carries on the night to pace the Poplarville clock-controlling offense. Knight added 136 yards on 20 carries. The big win sets up a dream matchup next week in Poplarville for the 4A South State Championship against East Central (12-0), who defeated South Pike 77-32 to advance.
