The matchup between undefeated Central Hinds and struggling Porter’s Chapel Academy went about as expected Friday night.

Central Hinds rolled up 44 points in the first half and cruised to a 56-7 victory over PCA to clinch the MAIS District 3-AAA championship. By winning the district title, Central Hinds (7-0, 4-0 District 3-AAA) also is guaranteed a top-five seed in the 16-team Class AAA playoff bracket.

PCA (1-7, 1-3) lost its fifth consecutive game this season, and for the 10th time in 11 meetings with Central Hinds. Every one of those losses to the Cougars has been by at least two touchdowns.

Despite his team’s struggles, PCA coach Blake Purvis said there were some positive takeaways from Friday’s game and the latter parts of a tough season. Quarterback Luke Yocum was 13-of-21 passing for 160 yards on Friday and has completed 66.7 percent of his passes in the last two games.

Michael Tod Andrews also had his second 100-yard receiving game of the season, with 10 catches for 148 yards. Andrews’ 10 receptions tied the single-game school record set by Chris Marshall against Prentiss Christian in 2010.

“We are throwing the ball better than we have been. We did find some offensive production,” Purvis said, adding that the offensive game plan against Central Hinds was to throw the ball on nearly every play. The Eagles only ran it a dozen times for 25 yards. “I thought the plan we came in with was what we needed to do, and it showed. Opportunities were there on the outside, and we found some success there. But when you have to do that, one incompletion will kill a drive and we had some of those.”

Purvis even found some silver linings with his defense. After giving up a number of big plays in recent weeks, he was happy — such as it was — to see Central Hinds drive the ball down the field and score mostly on short runs.

Senior defensive lineman McKinley Skipper had nine tackles, one sack and a fumble recovery. He also scored PCA’s only touchdown, on a 3-yard run in the second half.

Austin Rudd and Jake Arias had seven tackles apiece.

“I thought we played very well defensively. It was hard to see that with the outcome, but at halftime we were playing with seven guys out of position,” said Purvis, who has been dealing with some injuries and roster turnover in recent weeks. “We forced them to drive on us, tackled well in the secondary, and forced them to run plays.”