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SUMMIT — North Pike High School junior quarterback Alijah Martin accounted for six touchdowns, five rushing and one passing, as the Jaguars stunned the Natchez High School Bulldogs 49-25 Friday night in an MHSAA Region 3-5A game.

Natchez High went into this game with plenty of momentum after back-to-back comeback wins over South Jones High School and Brookhaven High School. Meanwhile, it looked like North Pike’s season was heading in just the opposite direction.

Martin made sure the Jaguars’ downward spiral would not continue for at least another week. He scored on a 2-yard run with about 8 left in the first quarter to give them a 7-0 lead. He threw a 3-yard TD pass to Jermarius Lewis early in the second quarter for a 14-0 lead.

Paul Hargrave threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Evertte Bates nearly 2 minutes later to put Natchez High right back in the game at 14-7.

But only for a brief period of time as Martin scored on runs of 50 and 15 yards to put North Pike on top 28-7. Hargrave’s 12-yard TD run cut the gap to 28-13 at halftime.

Martin’s 65-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter appeared to have give North Pike (3-6, 2-3) a commanding 35-12 advantage. But the Bulldogs would not go away quietly. Two touchdowns in less than 2 minutes made it a 35-25 game about midway through the quarter.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t continue their comeback mastery this time around.

The Jaguars put up 14 points in the fourth quarter on a 10-yard touchdown run by Damurlyon Montgomery and a two-yard TD run by Martin. 

Natchez High (5-3, 3-2) will look to get back on the winning track when it hosts Forest Hill High School for homecoming Friday at 7 p.m.

Port Gibson 22, Wilkinson County 12

WOODVILLE — It was a Senior Night that Wilkinson County High School would rather forget as the Wildcats were upset by the Port Gibson High School Blue Waves 22-12 Friday night in an MHSAA Region 7-3A game. 

Wilkinson County had a golden opportunity to win the Region 7-3A title outright in its regular-season finale by defeating a Port Gibson team that entered this game with just one victory to show for it – and that was over a month ago.

Instead, the Wildcats were held to well under 300 yards of total offense and just four first downs. They trailed Port Gibson (2-6, 1-2) 14-6 at halftime and 22-6 at the end of the third quarter.

Freddie Byrd III threw just eight passes and completed five of them for only 120 yards with no touchdowns and one interception.

Khalil Ford led the defense with 12 tackles.

Wilkinson County (7-2, 3-1) will probably still be the No. 1 seed out of Region 7-3A when the playoffs begin in two weeks, having already defeated Jefferson County High School.

Jefferson County 28, Hazlehurst 6

FAYETTE — Jefferson County High School had less than 200 yards of total offense and still managed to defeat the Hazlehurst High School Indians 28-6 in a pivotal MHSAA Region 7-3A game Friday night. 

Gailrontae Fells and Domonique Gaines each has short touchdown runs while Jaheime Herrington had a 20-yard touchdown for Jefferson County.

And the Tigers’ defense picked off three passes, one of which was returned 40 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter by Zachary Ford.

The touchdown runs by Fells and Herrington came in the third quarter to help the Tigers break a 6-6 halftime score. Daron Wright led their defense with 10 tackles, one sack, and one interception. Jacari Washington had a stellar performance on defense and special teams with an interception and a blocked punt.

Jefferson County (5-2, 2-1) travels to Meadville to take on Franklin County High School Friday at 7 p.m.