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WESSON — With the MHSAA Region 7-3A championship at stake and Jefferson County High School trailing Wesson Attendance Center, Tigers head coach Roderick Holmes said he knew what he had to do.

“We’ve got a leader on offense in No. 1, Royale Shelvy. When it came down to it, we knew what to do and that’s put the ball in his hands,” Holmes said.

Shelvy engineered three touchdown passes in the fourth quarter as the Jefferson County Tigers rallied to defeat the Wesson Cobras 46-34 last Friday night at H.S. Stone Stadium on the campus of Copiah-Lincoln Community College to win the Region 7-3A title for the third straight season.

“He kept his composure all night long. Our resiliency and knowing how to fight adversity. We had a few starters out. Those that had to fill in for them did their job. A great team win – offensively, defensively, and special team,” Holmes said.

Jefferson County led Wesson 12-6 by the end of the first quarter thanks to a couple of long touchdown passes. The Cobras scored on a 85-yard kickoff return after the Tigers’ first touchdown of the opening quarter.

The Cobras took the lead at 14-12 on a 12-yard TD pass, but that didn’t last long as Shelvy had a pair of 42-yard touchdown runs to give the Tigers a 26-14 halftime lead.

However, Wesson (7-2, 2-2) responded with two touchdowns of its own and the Cobras’ defense did its job in the third quarter in helping them take a 28-26 lead by the end of that quarter.

But when it mattered most, the Tigers took over in the fourth quarter and there was little the Cobras could do to stop them.

“Kudos to that Wesson team. They pushed us to the edge, but we didn’t fall off. This is a team full of fighters. Never quit, never say die mentality,” Holmes said. “We had a great week of planning from our coaches. My seniors came to play tonight. They have it everything they had.”

With the win, the Tigers also ran the table with a 4-0 record in Region 7-3A play.

Jefferson County (7-2 overall) will take on Region 6-3A No. 4 seed Hazlehurst High School next Friday at 7 p.m. in the first round of the 2024 MHSAA Class 3A South State Playoffs.