FORDYCE – In a game where one play can make a difference, Zavier Jones made three of them.
Jones caught a 48-yard pass from Andreal Ellison over the shoulder to jumpstart Fordyce’s go-ahead touchdown drive in the third quarter and made two big interceptions in the fourth, helping the Redbugs earn a second straight semifinal appearance with a 28-14 win over Mayflower on Friday in the 3A high school state playoffs.
Fordyce, which lost at Bismarck in last year’s 3A semifinals, will host Booneville next Friday at Paul “Bear” Bryant Stadium with a trip to the Dec. 13 championship game at stake. Booneville, the No. 3 seed from Conference 3A-1, stunned 3A-4 champion Glen Rose 40-14.
“We were waking up at 6 a.m. every morning before team camps, before 8 a.m. lifts, so we were making sure we were prepared for moments like this,” Jones said. “We knew last week (in a 36-35 overtime win over Charleston), it was just mental errors and we had to clean those up. We had a few mental errors in the first half of the game (Friday), and we held them to 0 points in the second half, so we had to capitalize on every opportunity they gave us.”
Jones’ big gainer from Ellison started a 10-play, 94-yard scoring drive ending with a 6-yard carry for Tramane Turner with 6:09 left in the third.
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Jones picked off Mayflower’s Carter Smith at the Redbugs’ 5 and returned it to the 29 with 7:43 remaining in the game. Eight plays later, Micah Gamble spun off a defender and sprinted 48 yards for the insurance score with 2:39 left. Tyrel Harris added the 2-point conversion on a carry.
Gamble had 84 yards on 10 carries, and Harris finished with 86 yards on 14 totes.
“In the second half, we knew we were going to have to get the ball to him,” Fordyce Coach Tim Rodgers said of Gamble. “Those last couple of drives to run the clock out, we kept giving it to him, and sooner or later he was going to score if you give him the ball enough.”
The second pick by Jones, which he returned 5 yards to the Redbugs’ 38, sealed the win with 1:57 left.
Fordyce fullback Kaiden Quimby broke a 36-yard touchdown run on the game’s second play from scrimmage, and sophomore classmate Ellison bulled his way into the end zone on a quarterback sneak late in the first half, as the Redbugs (12-1) fought the Eagles (11-2) to a 14-all tie at the break.
Fordyce, the Conference 3A-8 champion, got the fast start it was looking for a week. Ellison, who completed 10 of 15 passes for 148 yards with 2 interceptions, completed a 2-point pass to Harris following Quimby’s touchdown.
The Eagles were stopped short on fourth-and-3 of their first drive, but Mayflower senior Collin McCuin picked off Ellison and returned it 72 yards to get them on the board. An extra point drew Mayflower within 8-7.
Mayflower recovered a Fordyce fumble and scored late in the opening quarter on Trevion Williams’ 5-yard carry. Williams, the Eagles’ 5-foot-10, 240-pound running back, had 54 yards on 16 carries.
Smith, a junior, completed an 18-yard pass to senior Kameron Willis, who recovered his own fumble on the same play after Mayflower’s recovery, saving the scoring drive.
Fordyce’s tying drive covered 72 yards in 14 plays over nearly 6 ½ minutes. Ellison needed a push into the end zone on fourth-and-goal to knot the score with 39 seconds left before halftime, but his 2-point pass attempt was no good.
McCuin garnered his second interception with 3:19 left in the third, but Mayflower was stopped for a 2-yard loss on fourth-and-1 of the following drive early in the fourth.
Smith was 11 for 24 for 104 yards with the two picks by Jones.