<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=4P3IET_1H08A4je00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4P3IET_1H08A4je00" width="1920" height="1478" ></figure>Neshoba Central secured a home playoff game on Thursday night. The Rockets ran out to a 28-0 lead and held on to take a 28-14 win over Callaway and finish second in district play. Neshoba improved to 7-3 on the season and will host South Panola in the first round of the Class 6A playoffs this week. Neshoba coach Shannon Ruffin said the Rockets started slow but used a steady approach to take the district win over the Chargers, a team that beat them last year. “We started off kind of shaky but eventually pulled things together,” Ruffin said. “We turned the ball over right away and should have scored there. Then we get a big run by the quarterback, and he fumbles. We got those things fixed and settled down and started running the table on them a bit. When we are mistake-free, we are a pretty good football team. The game got kind of chippy, and we pulled our starters in the fourth. We wanted to protect our guys from injuries and didn’t want to get anybody ejected.” Neshoba forced Callaway to punt on its first two possessions and then went 80 yards in eight plays on its second drive. The Rockets hit a big play as Sam Huffman hit Alandrick Hathorne on a 50-yard touchdown pass. Charlie Smith hit the PAT, and Neshoba led 7-0 with 2:21 left in the first quarter. Callaway drove deep on its next possession but had a field goal blocked. Neshoba gave the ball right back when Huffman fumbled on the next play. The Neshoba defense held, and the Rockets went 78 yards in four plays. After a 60-yard completion to Deangelo Boler, Denterrious Loggins scored on a 12-yard run with 5:10 left in the half. Smith hit the PAT and Neshoba led 14-0 at the half. Callaway got the ball to start the second half, and the Rockets went 68 yards in eight plays and scored on a 6-yard run by Boler with 6:12 left in the third. Smith’s PAT was good, and Neshoba led 21-0. After another Callaway punt, Neshoba went 82 yards in 10 plays as Craig Pruitt scored on a 12-yard run with 9:54 left in the game. Smith hit the PAT and Neshoba led 28-0. The two teams swapped punts, and Callaway got on the board with a 67-yard touchdown pass with 4:36 left in the game to cut the margin to 28-7. After a Neshoba punt, Callaway scored on a 52-yard run with 32 seconds left in the game for the final margin of 28-14. Neshoba had 130 yards passing and 217 yards rushing for 347 yards of total offense. Sam Huffman was 5-of-9 passing for 130 yards with one TD. Pruitt had 121 tards rushing on 16 carries while Loggins had 36 yards on four carries. Doler also had 29 yards on two carries while Huffman had 23 yards on three carries. The Rockets will be at home for the first round of the Class 6A playoffs as they host South Panola. The Tigers are 5-4 on the season with wins over Clarksdale (38-6), Horn Lake (49-13), Saltillo (53-6), Grenada (37-0), and Olive Branch (48-14). They have losses to Desoto (26-25), Oxford (17-10), Lake Cormorant (27-23), and Center Hill (30-29). “Defensively, they are a good football team and well coached,” Ruffin said. “They will try to be physical in the run game in the trenches. With our crowd and atmosphere, I think our guys will get up to play. We just want to play mistake-free football, and I think we will be fine.” Last year, the two teams met in the first round of the playoffs, and South Panola led 21-0 at the half. Neshoba rallied and scored two touchdowns in the fourth to take a thrilling 28-27 win over the Tigers. “It’s not like I gave a great, inspiring halftime speech,” Ruffin said. “I just told them, we are going to take it one play at a time, and see what happens. We completed a couple of passes, and they had trouble covering us, so we kept it up and came back to win.”</div></body>

Block Source: Neshoba Democrat

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Neshoba Central secured a home playoff game on Thursday night. The Rockets ran out to a 28-0 lead and held on to take a 28-14 win over Callaway and finish second in district play. Neshoba improved to 7-3 on the season and will host South Panola in the first round...

Rockets finish second in district with Callaway win

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Neshoba Central secured a home playoff game on Thursday night. The Rockets ran out to a 28-0 lead and held on to take a 28-14 win over Callaway and finish 

Rockets finish second in district with Callaway win

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