By Dan Smith

BRUNDIDGE – It may have been designated as a jamboree on the schedule, but the near-capacity crowd came to see Pike County High and Charles Henderson High square off in their annual rivalry that dates back almost 75 years, and both teams came away with positives in a 35-14 CHHS win at Bulldog Stadium.

CHHS junior quarterback Noah Lowery completed 9-of-11 passes for 182 yards and two touchdowns, junior running back Jared Wilson picked up 87 yards rushing and a TD, while the PCHS offense turned in a couple of big plays coupled with a 67-yard rushing effort by junior Jahzarian Lampley.

“We were trying to play a bunch of different people and try to figure out how our depth is going to match up as we are moving forward, and luckily we were able to do that,” said CHHS head coach Brad McCoy. “I’ve got a good feeling about this football team. We came out, and our energy level was high. I think we made fewer mistakes tonight than we did this time last year, which is a positive. I think this football team has more maturity and better character, than what we had last year.”

CHHS took the opening kickoff and moved 66 yards in eight plays, with Jabronski Williams running the ball in from three yards out, and the Cameron Bush extra point put the Trojans ahead 7-0 with 9:10 remaining in the first quarter.

The Bulldogs responded with a play to catch the Trojans off guard, as Lampley took a pitch-out from quarterback Jaidyn Wilson, and the running back hit a streaking Juhmir Lampley in stride for a 77-yard touchdown pass play and Juhmir also kicked the extra point to to the score 7-7.

The Trojans scored the next three touchdowns as Lowery hit Williams for a 41-yard pitch and catch TD, with Williams zigging and zagging his way through the secondary for the score and a 14-7 lead.

Lowery later hit Jordan Dix-hudson on a 63-yard play with 6:59 to go in the first half, on a ball that was batted by a Bulldog defender but landed in the hands of Dix-hudson, and Bush’s PAT put CHHS up 21-7.

Wilson took the ball in from five yards out with 1:55 to go in the half and the Trojans led 28-7.

Pike County got on the board again with 8:23 to play in the game as Juhmir Lampley took the ball in for a 5-yard TD run to cut the lead to 28-14.

CHHS scored its final touchdown with 1:30 to play as DQ Toney lofted a 12-yard touchdown pass to Josh Roberts and the kick by Bush put the score at 35-14.

The Trojans will host UMS Wright next week in Troy to open the regular season, while PCHS will travel to Elba, both tough opponents for each team.

Although PCHS head coach Fred Holland had fewer players than CHHS, he liked some things he saw from the contest.

“One thing about it, we made a lot of mistakes in the first half, but we played a lot better in the third and fourth quarter,” said Holland. “That is something we stressed a lot at half time, just work on getting better on special teams, offense and defense, and I think we did that. We still made some mistakes but I am proud of them for the fact that a lot of them, whether older or younger guys, have not played much. Just the game experience that they gained is a very positive thing, and I think overall, we played a lot better in the second half and I was proud of the kids.”

Leading rushers for CHHS were Wilson with 87 yards, Gandy picked up 59 yards and Williams rushed for 42 yards.

Jahzarian Lampley rushed for 67 yards to lead the Bulldogs.