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FAYETTE — Two of the top teams in MHSAA Class 3A will battle this Friday night when the Jefferson County High School Tigers play host to the undefeated Magee High School Trojans in the semifinals of the 2024 MHSAA Class 3A South State Playoffs.

Kickoff between Region 6-3A champion and No. 1 seed Magee (11-0) and Region 7-3A champion and No. 1 seed Jefferson County (9-2) is scheduled for 7 p.m. The Trojans held on to defeat Region 5-3A No. 2 seed Kemper County High School 21-12 while the Tigers rallied to defeat Region 8-3A No. 2 seed Tylertown High School 38-20.

“I was most pleased with the way the team handled going down in the second quarter. They responded well to that and ended up retaking the lead before halftime,” Tigers head coach Roderick Holmes said. “So that gave us an added incentive to go in and regroup for halftime. It allowed us to get back on track with our game plan.”

After Jefferson County tied the game on a touchdown pass by quarterback Royale Shelvy at 20-20 with just under a minute to until halftime, the Chiefs got the ball back only for senior strong safety JaeKwon Collins to have what Holmes said was the most important play of the game with his pick-six that gave the Tigers a 26-20 lead at halftime.

The Tigers then recovered a couple of fumbles by the Chiefs’ offense and also forced a few turnovers on downs in the second half. Marsavion Ford and Deanthony Miller each had a five-yard touchdown run to allow Jefferson County to pull away for the victory. Miller had two TD runs on offense and an interception on defense.

But now the focus for Jefferson County turns to a tough challenge in Magee. As for what the Tigers will be practicing on this week to get ready for the Trojans, Holmes said, “Everything – all phases of the game. But because it’s the playoff and we’re getting game after game after game, we have to be working on healing. That’s our biggest thing is staying healthy during the week. That’s one of our biggest focuses is getting healthy and staying healthy.”

Magee will present challenges offensively and defensively, Holmes said, “Offensively, they have a balanced attack behind some pretty good quarterback play. Defensively, they send a lot of pressure from the front seven. They’ve got a spread offense and defensively, they run a 3-4.”

When Magee’s offense has the ball, the Tigers’ defense will have to put plenty of pressure on Trojans senior quarterback Kendall Middleton because, as Holmes put it, he’s an accurate quarterback.

“We have to disrupt his accuracy,” Holmes added.

When Jefferson County’s offense has the ball, the Tigers will have to keep an eye out on Magee’s outside linebackers to make sure they don’t get to Shelvy and disrupt his timing so he can throw the ball to his receivers.

As for who will need to step up and have a big game for the Tigers to pull off what would be a huge upset over the Trojans and advance to the Class 3A South State Championship game, Holmes said, “We’re going to have to have good inside linebacker play. We’re going to need our inside linebackers have a good game. Offensively, our offensive line. They’ve been doing a good job, but they’re going to have to play a little bit better. They’re going to have to give our quarterback a little more time and they’re going to need to come off the ball a little quicker in our run game.”