Heartbreak in Happy Valley

All season long, the Ridgeland defense has geared up to stop the run, while daring other teams to beat them through the air.

Friday night, someone finally did.

The Jefferson Dragons, Class AAAA state semifinalists a season ago, scored 28 unanswered points and got a late defensive stop to knock off secondranked Ridgeland, 2821, in the second round of the Class AAAA state playoffs at Bowers and Painter Field.

Jefferson (10-2) will advance to the quarterfinals where they will travel to Mary Persons this week, while the second-best season in Ridgeland history came to a close with an 11-1 record.

Ridgeland head coach Wesley Tankersley said the loss was a bitter pill to swallow.

“It’s hard to say anything to the kids,” he said. “You know they are hurting and we (as coaches) are hurting too. They battled hard. We were down 28-14 and a lot of negative things were happening there in the third quarter. But they still came back and scored and made it a ball game at the end. We had a chance to do something there at the end, but just didn’t do it.”

Ridgeland did its best to contain Dragons running back Colby Wood. The senior, who came into Friday with over 6,200 rushing yards and almost 90 touchdowns for his career, managed just 72 yards on 20 tough carries and was held out of the end zone. However, it was the combination of quarterback Bryce Moore and receiver Zac Corbin that did the damage.

Moore was just 11-of19 for 152 yards on the night, but three of his completions went for touchdowns and several other throws came in crucial situations to keep the chains moving. Meanwhile, Corbin was turning in perhaps the game of his life. He caught nine passes for 118 yards and all three scores while hauling in some remarkable grabs when it appeared that the Panthers seemingly had perfect coverage.

“They’re a good football team and everyone knows that,” Tankersley said. “We’ve taken the chance on defense all year. We send a lot of pressure