Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

FAYETTE — The Jefferson County High School Tigers are moving on in the 2024 MHSAA Class 3A South State Playoffs after defeating the Hazlehurst High School Indians 38-14 lFriday night in a first-round battle.

The first quarter went back and forth between the two teams. Royale Shelvy scored on a 40-yard touchdown run and completed a two-point conversion pass to Jadavis Galtney about a minute into the ball game to give Region 7-3A No. 1 seed Jefferson County a quick 8-0 lead.

About three minutes later, Region 6-3A No. 4 seed Hazlehurst got a break after turning the ball over on downs as Shelvy made a rare mistake and threw what ended being a pick-6 and just like that the Indians were down only 8-6 after a failed two-point conversion attempt.

Then it appeared that the Tigers had taken control of the game after Shelvy’s 30-yard touchdown run and his two-point conversion pass to Ja’kobe Brown about midway through the first quarter for a 16-6 lead. But the Indians answered yet again, this time on a touchdown run and a successful two-point conversion run with about three minutes left in the opening quarter to make it a 16-14 game.

“We made it a little tougher on us than we should have. All in all, we met the goal and that was to win and advance to the second round,” Jefferson County head coach Roderick Holmes said. “It’s the playoffs. Everybody’s trying to win. We’ve got to put a little more effort in our first-half performances.”

After that, the Tigers’ defense bowed up and kept Hazlehurst (3-7) scoreless the rest of the ball game. And that allowed their offense to take over.

“Defense, we went into halftime and made some adjustments. Guys were out of position and that’s what allowed Hazlehurst to run the ball,” Holmes said. “Guys like Jermall Williams, Gariyon Bailey, and Deanthony Miller had a great night on defense.”

Shelvy threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Miller late in the second quarter and his two-point conversion pass to Jaylin Brown gave Jefferson County a 24-14 halftime lead.

With about three minutes left in the third quarter, Shelvy scored on a 30-yard run to give the Tigers a 30-14 lead. About midway through the fourth quarter, Shelvy put the game on ice with his 60-yard touchdown run and Jamari Tenner added the two-point conversion run.

“We’ve got to do a little more conditioning. We got a few players back from injuries and they got their feet under them,” Holmes said.

As for how many rushing yards Shelvy had, Holmes said, “I would say he had at least 200 (yards) on the ground.”

Jefferson County (8-2) will play host to Tylertown High School in a Class 3A South State match-up next Friday at 7 p.m.