Kedarius Wade, Callaway move to 7-1 with 28-18 win over Holmes County Central

JACKSON — The question coming into Thursday night's showdown between Callaway and Holmes County Central was how the Chargers would respond to their first loss of the season.

The answer: pretty well.

Behind a consistent rushing attack and a bend-but-don't-break defense, the Chargers got past Holmes County Central 28-18 at South Jackson Field on Thursday night in a critical Region 2-5A matchup.

Pending the outcome of the Vicksburg-Neshoba Central game Friday night, the Chargers (7-1, 6-1 Region 2-5A) will Neshoba Central next week to determine who will host a first round Class 5A playoff game. Holmes County Central (5-3, 3-3) now must win their final two games to earn the No. 4 seed.

“The kids responded really well," Callaway coach Dameon Brown said. "They didn’t like the feeling of losing, and we talked about it all week — how are we going to rebound from a loss. The kids bought in, we had a great game plan and did what we were saying all week.”

The Chargers never trailed, but it took a while to get the offense going.

After a scoreless first quarter, Kedarius Wade scored on a 15-yard run with 8:47 left in the second quarter to give Callaway a 7-0 lead.

Octavious Pernell hit Terrance Hibler on a 16-yard touchdown pass for Holmes County Central with 2:28 left before halftime, but the two-point conversion failed to give Callaway a 7-6 edge.

Callaway responded with a 5-yard touchdown run by Quay Thompson with 23 seconds left before halftime to extend their lead to 14-6.

The Jaguars scored on their first drive of the second half, as Jartavious Smart scampered 44 yards to end zone to cut the Callaway lead to 14-12 with 9:05 left in the third quarter.

Callaway finally got a little separation later in the quarter, extending their lead to 20-12 on Wade's one-yard run with 4:16 left in the third quarter.

After Holmes County fumbled the ensuing kickoff, Marvin Moore scored on a 16-yard run to give the Chargers a 28-12 lead with 2:01 left in the third quarter.

Pernell found Trayveon Horton on a 34-yard touchdown pass with 10:08 left in the fourth quarter to cut the Callaway lead to 28-18.

The Charger defense got two fourth-down stops on the next two Jaguar possessions to seal the game.

“Defense played lights out and the kids executed," Brown said. "Kedarius had a great game and we go as he goes. We saw some things we could take advantage of in the run game and just stuck to it. Big game next week with Neshoba to try to get the No. 2 seed.”

The Chargers had 170 total yard rushing. Quarterback Kantrell Thomas passed for 102 yards.

“We came into this game as the underdog, so we just had to put in work and come out on top," Wade said. "We kept momentum the whole game with the run game. We trust our run game. We weren’t really discouraged after the loss, just kept working. We got another big game next week.”

Pernell passed for 118 yards with two touchdowns for Holmes County.

“Callaway came to play and they wanted it more than we did,” said Holmes County Central coach Marcus Rogers. “Everytime we gave a punch, they answered. We’re young and we've had growing pains. We had opportunities, but penalties and turnovers cost us.”