Justin Magee Keeps Going and Going and Then He's Gone.....
Justin Magee turned a close ball game into another highlight reel for his career as he followed the blocking of Picayune fullback Tim Gaff and the Tide's
stellar offensive line to deliver six (6) rushing touchdowns and put away a scrappy Northwest Rankin team by a score of 56-35 at Cougar Field. What
looked to be a close contest early in the third quarter as Northwest Rankin pulled to within a touchdown of tying the game, turned into a rout as Magee
found opening after opening in the second half as the Tide pulled away. The win will give the Maroon Tide their first South State appearance since winning
the Class 5A championship in 1986. The Tide will play at Oak Grove who defeated Meridian 31-16 at Ray Stadium to end the season for the home standing
Wildcats.
Magee finished the evening with 289 yards on 35 carries. He scored on runs of 23, 10, 1, 1, 81, and 17 yards. He also caught a 73 yard touchdown pass
from senior quarterback Chris Stewart midway through the second quarter that will go down as one of his all time great plays. On the play, Stewart rolled
to his right while Magee circled out of the backfield on the left side. Magee caught the ball as his own 45 yard line, outran the linebacker at the 50, side-stepped
the corner at the NW Rankin 35, cut back to his right avoiding the safety, and then faked out the other corner, before running the final 15 yards untouched.
Justin Magee Chris Stewart Tim Gaff Scott Hillery
Chris Stewart added an 8 yard run in the second quarter to post the Tide to a 14-0 lead with 11:56 showing on the clock. But Northwest Rankin came back
to tie the game. First, they got a 39 yard run from junior running back Jeremy Bibbs. Then after kicking off to Picayune, the Cougars recovered a mishandled
pitch at the Tide 32 yard line and Bibbs would eventually score from 7 yards out. Ragan Walters kicked both extra points and it 14-14 with 9:50 left in the
second quarter. Bibbs finished with 22 rushes for 236 yards.
The Tide answered on Stewart's 73 yard pass to Magee and then extended the lead to 28-14 on Magee's 10 yard TD run just before halftime.
Bibbs scored on the second play of the third quarter on a 49 yard run to cut it to 28-21. Magee answered with a 1 yard plunge capping off a 14 play 75 yard drive
that took 7:28 off the clock. Northwest came back to score on a 6 yard run by Branden Franklin to once again cut it to a seven point lead.
From there Magee took over at that point scoring the next three times Picayune had the football to put this one away. His 81 yard sprint down the right sideline put it out of reach at 49-28 with 6:44 to play. Magee's final carry of the night was a 17 yard run with 2:33 to play.
Scott Hillery was successful on eight PATs and also caught 5 of Stewart's passes for 69 yards. Stewart finished 7 of 9 for 151 yards.