From staff reports

From the opening kickoff Friday night, Briarfield and Bayou Academy kept their fans’ heads on a swivel. The teams traded touchdowns like baseball cards and sprinted up and down the field as if it were a video game.

Finally, 47 1/2 minutes into an offensive slugfest, somebody made a stop.

Bayou Academy’s Caleb Reed came up with a game-clinching interception with 30 seconds to play, giving the Colts a wild 40-38 win over Briarfield (11-3) in the MPSA Class A North championship game in Lake Providence.

Bayou advanced to face Glenbrook in the Class A championship game next Friday at 1:30 p.m. at Mississippi College. Glenbrook beat Huntington, 23-0, in the South State final.

Bayou rushed for 441 yards in Friday’s game, with both Reed and Cory McClendon easily surpassing the 100-yard mark. McClendon ran for 275 yards and two touchdowns on 34 carries, while Reed had 166 yards and three TDs on 20 carries.

Reed’s final score, a 2-yarder with 2:13 to play, put Bayou ahead 40-31 and seemingly put the game out of reach. Briarfield answered, though, with a quick drive capped by Jeffrey Graham’s 12-yard TD pass to Jon Jon Taylor. Stephen Hernandez’s point after cut it to 40-38, and the Rebels recovered an onsides kick with 1:15 remaining. They made it to the Bayou 30-yard line before Reed finally ended it with his interception.

Sam Minsky almost single-handedly kept the Rebels in the game. He caught five passes for 132 yards and three touchdowns, and also returned the opening kickoff 80 yards for a score.

W. Bolivar 22, S. Delta 6

West Bolivar (13-0) scored 22 unanswered points after South Delta (9-4) took an early 6-0 lead, and advanced to the MHSAA Class 2A semifinals. West Bolivar will play Hollandale Simmons for the North State championship next Friday.

Anthony Carrol’s 1-yard TD run after a West Bolivar fumble midway through the first quarter was South Delta’s only score.

Keondrick Brown threw two long touchdown passes to Daniel Lee, covering 47 and 71 yards, for West Bolivar. Tony Lewis finished the scoring with an 11-yard TD run with 3:45 left in the game.