MRA beats Hartfield in battle of MAIS powerhouses
Defending MAIS 6A state champions Hartfield Academy came into Friday night’s matchup with Madison-Ridgeland Academy riding a 21-game winning streak and looking to continue their recent dominance. The Patriots had different plans, knocking off the defending champs in a 44-35 thriller and making their case as the top team in MAIS football.
“What an unbelievable game with a lot of great athletes,” MRA Head Coach Herbert Davis said. “Both teams stepped up and made a lot of plays when they needed to, just a great team win.”
The Patriots jumped out to a 21-0 lead over Hartfield Academy in the first quarter and early on, it looked like MRA was going to roll in this one.
Hartfield Academy had other plans, storming back and going on a 28-3 run to retake the lead in the second half.
“We just gave up too many big plays,” Davis said. “We didn’t do a great job tackling or covering, which allowed those big plays.”
The teams traded touchdowns from there, playing in a shootout until MRA was eventually able to close it out in the fourth.
Even when MRA had a lead in the fourth quarter and most coaches would decide to run the ball and take as much time in between plays as possible, this Patriot team was still play with a very high tempo and still throwing the ball, as they regularly do throughout the game.
That aggression and confidence offensively proved to work out in the end.
“We just play better when we play fast,” Davis said. “That’s who we are, our players will come over and tell me they want to play faster.”
Quarterback Samuel Stockett was once again dynamic in the high-powered MRA offense, throwing for 280 yards and four touchdowns on the night.
“Getting the run game going really opened a lot of things up in the passing game for us,” Stockett said. “The offensive line played great as well, which helped a lot.”
This dynamic MRA offense has multiple weapons including Stockett, wide receiver Case Thomas, and Arkansas State commitment DJ Watkins.
Tonight however, another weapon stepped to the forefront for the Patriot offense. Senior wide receiver Jack Polles had three receiving touchdowns on the night and made the Hartfield Academy defense pay for trying to focus on other playmakers in the MRA offense.
“We were reading which way the safeties were going and going the opposite way,” Stockett said. “Jack did a great job of getting open for us and made some really important plays for us.”
The importance of this win for MRA cannot be overstated. With key region matchups looming against teams like Jackson Academy and Jackson Prep, a win over a team that is as high-caliber as Hartfield Academy could go a long way when it comes to playoff seeding at the end of the year.
“I just keep telling our kids that our ceiling is a lot higher than where we are right now,” Davis said. “Every win in a league like ours is going to be a big win.”
The Patriots are down to three games left on their regular season schedule, with a road matchup against Jackson Academy next week, another huge road matchup against Jackson Prep the following week, and then a home game against PCS to round out the regular season.