PCA takes big loss to Humphreys Academy

Published 12:23 am Saturday, September 14, 2024

Porter’s Chapel Academy still has half a season left and big goals to achieve — which is good, because they’d rather not focus on what happened Friday night.

The Eagles had less than 200 yards of total offense, lost their top offensive player to an injury in the first half, and had their brief winning streak come to a sudden stop with a 44-6 loss to Humphreys Academy.

Humphreys returned a fumble 92 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter, and then scored in the final 20 seconds of the half after PCA had gotten to within 10 points. The late TD put the Rebels ahead 22-6 at halftime and they pulled away from there.

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“We battled in the second half, but we were shuffling some people without Jase (Jung) and doing some different stuff offensively. We were in it. We had some bad breaks and things like that, and just couldn’t rebound from it,” PCA coach Blake Purvis said.

Jase Jung, who rushed for 1,354 yards in the first four games of the season, left this one early because of a lower leg injury. He had 31 yards on only five carries, which was just enough to break PCA’s career rushing record.

Jung now has 4,095 yards over the past four seasons, surpassing the 4,079 yards that Earl Johnson compiled from 1974-76.

After Jung left the game, Auston Moore picked up some of the slack by rushing for 64 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries.

On defense, Hunter Simms led PCA with eight tackles. Conley Johnston had seven tackles, one tackle for loss, and one sack, and Carson Hays had three tackles, a tackle for loss and a sack. Chad Fuson also had four tackles.

PCA will begin its MAIS District 3-2A schedule next week when it goes to Pearl to face Park Place Christian Academy.

“A loss is always disappointing, but I think we’re going to find a lot of good to take out of this on film with some guys,” Purvis said. “We’ve still got a whole season to play for. We start our district schedule next week. We go 3-0 in the district and we still get a first-round bye. We’re not out of this by any stretch.”