Scott Central's Quez Goss, Javieon Butler connect for three TDs in Region 6-2A Championship

FOREST — There’s a sign reminding drivers to fasten their seat belt as they turn onto Old Jackson Road from Highway 35 just north of Forest on the way to Scott Central.

On Friday nights, they need to add one for chinstraps.

The defending state-champion Rebels laid low another victim Friday night, rallying past Velma Jackson 42-21 to clinch the Region 6-2A title and secure home-field advantage in the first round of the MHSAA 2A South State Playoffs.

It was the Rebels’ 13th-straight home win and capped a spectacular October in which they went 4-0 and out-scored their four region opponents 192-21. Scott Central (8-2) will host Nanih Waiya (2-8) to open post-season play next Friday night.

“We hit some rough patches early in the season,” coach Jeff Stockstill said. “I thought we had a little trouble getting ready for the ‘big game’ and playing our best in those types of games. So that was the main thing this week — this was a big game, and we needed to prepare and treat it like one. There were some mistakes… but I thought our guys showed up.”

And that’s exactly what the Rebels did, even after a less-than stellar start to the game. Velma Jackson drove 59 yards on the game’s opening drive and took a 7-0 lead on Tyshun Willis’s eight-yard touchdown run.

But Scott Central answered right back with it’s own seven-play, 63-yard touchdown drive, capped by a Quez Goss 10-yard keeper. The Rebels converted a two-point play following a penalty on the extra point attempt, and took the 8-7 lead. They never gave it back.

The Rebels scored two more touchdowns — one on a five-yard run by Zechariah Parodi and another on an eight-yard pass to Javieon Butler — before the half to take a 22-7 lead into the break.

Velma Jackson (5-4) showed some resolve coming out of the half. The Falcon defense forced a punt and then intercepted Goss on its first two outings in the third quarter, and quarterback Terrelle Smith hooked up with Willis for a 25-yard touchdown to trim the Scott Central lead back to 22-13.

But nobody in Region 6 has been able to cover Butler, and neither could the Falcons. The Southern Miss commit got behind his defender on the ensuing possession, and Goss hit him in stride for a 73-yard touchdown pass to extend the lead back to 29-13 with 5:38 left in the third quarter.

And after senior Romeo Patrick picked off Smith’s next pass, Goss found Butler again from 36 yards out to basically put the game on ice with two minutes left in the third quarter.

“That dude’s amazing,” Goss said. “He’s my go-to guy right there. We’ve got a great receiving corp but that’s my guy.”

Goss finished the night with 272 yards of total offense, completing nine of his 13 passes for 202 yards and three touchdowns and adding another score on the ground to go with his 70 rushing yards.

Butler played the whole game both ways, intercepting one pass on defense and hauling in three passes — all for touchdowns.

Said Stockstill: “He’s the best-kept secret in the state.”

That may be true, but it won’t be for long. Especially not if the Rebels get back to the state’s biggest stage and vie for their second-straight MHSAA 2A State Championship at M.M. Roberts Stadium in December.

But as Stockstill was quick to point out, there’s a long playoff road between now and December.

“I’m happy for our guys,” he said. “We were up and down, hit and miss earlier this year and we had to get some wrinkles smoothed out. We knew we were going to have our hands full with this one, and we may see these guys again before this is over.”

The loss snapped a five-game winning streak for Velma Jackson, which hadn’t lost since Sept. 9. All-everything tailback Gavin Griffin finished the night with 117 yards on 19 carries, but the Falcons turned the ball over four times and committed far too many penalties.

“You hear a lot about those receivers and those guys can really go,” Velma Jackson coach Bernard Euell said. “And the catalyst of the whole thing is that quarterback. He’s a great athlete who throws a pretty ball. But the lesson learned from here is if you want to be a state champion, you have to raise your level of play. We didn’t do that tonight, and the reigning state champs did.”