By Austin Bishop
The Indians of Ackerman High School hope to keep adding chapters to their fairy tale season after a solid 6-0 win over rival Eupora on Friday night.
The win pushed AHS to 11-0 on the season and gave the Indians the Region 2-2A championship heading into the first round of the MHSAA Class 2A playoffs that begin on Friday night.
"We definitely gave an 'A' effort," Ackerman head coach Adam Dillinger said of his team's thrilling road win over the previously undefeated Eagles of Eupora. "Our kids played with a lot of effort and passion. The defense was outstanding. The closes they got (to scoring) was the 30-yard line."
Oddly enough, the only points of the game came on Ackerman's first possession. After forcing Eupora to punt, the Indians drove the ball down the field with Levias Simmons scoring on a 12-yard run.
"There is no way I thought those would be the only points of the game," Dillinger said. "I thought it would be a low-scoring game, but I didn't think we would keep them off the board. They have a strong offense."
Ackerman got the ball inside the 20 twice more in the game. The Indians had the ball at the Eupora 5-yard line late in the first half, but after a penalty Ackerman missed on a field goal. Late in the game the Indians picked off a Eupora pass and got in the red zone, but took a knee to run out the clock and preserve the win.
"That was two good football teams right there," Dillinger said. "We just made a couple of plays and that was the difference in the game."
Starting tailback Shawn Stricklin played only a couple snaps in the game for the Indians, as he recovers from a leg injury.
John Cummings picked up the slack, rushing for a team-high 137 yards on 27 carries. Simmons had six carries for 48 yards, while Andrew Furr hit on 2-of-4 passing for 15 yards, with Cummings making both of those catches.
Dillinger's toughest job this week will be keeping his Indians, ranked No. 3 in the state in Class 2A by the Mississippi Prep Sports Source, focused on their first-round opponent.
Ackerman opens the playoffs at home Friday at 7 against a 1-9 Strayhorn team that has only scored 53 points this season while giving up 366.
The Mustangs qualified for the playoffs by defeating Coahoma AHS 6-0 two weeks ago, giving them fourth place in the five-team division.
Strayhorn has only scored more than one touchdown in one game this season, with that coming last week in a 22-14 loss to Williams-Sullivan that had special significance. The win broke a 43-game losing streak for the Yellowjackets, the longest active mark in the state.
Strayhorn was 1-3 in Region 3-2A play and was outscored 161-0 by the top three teams in the region.
"You just try to stay sharp and do well at what you do," Dillinger said about this week's playoff opener. "It's all about getting better. We can't be looking ahead, we have to win this game first."
The winner of the Ackerman game will take on the winner of the game between 7-4 Walnut and 9-1 Hollandale-Simmons in the second round of the playoffs.
