High School

Landon Varnes lifts Brandon past Warren Central, into 6A South Championship

BRANDON —No Nate Blount, no problem for the Region 3 Champion Brandon Bulldogs. With its star tailback on the sideline in a sling, Brandon got a big performance

Tyler Cleveland, SBLive

Landon Varnes lifts Brandon past Warren Central, into 6A South Championship
Landon Varnes lifts Brandon past Warren Central, into 6A South Championship /

BRANDON —No Nate Blount, no problem for the Region 3 Champion Brandon Bulldogs.

With its star tailback on the sideline in a sling, Brandon got a big performance out of quarterback Landon Varnes, jumped ahead 21-0 early and leaned on its stout defense in a 42-17 win over Warren Central Friday night to punch its ticket to the Class 6A South State Championship.

The Bulldogs (10-2) will host defending State Champion Oak Grove next Friday night with a trip to the State Championship on the line.

“We’re a different team now than we were with Nate,” Brandon coach Sam Williams said. “But we’re still a very good football team. We just needed to adapt and I was proud of the way our guys did that this week with a really good week of practice.”

Varnes played exceptionally well, especially early.

After the Brandon defense got a quick 3-and-out to start the game, Varnes hit Devin Thigpen for a 47-yard pitch and catch on the Bulldogs’ second play from scrimmage. A few plays later, he hooked up with Thigpen again on 3rd-&-goal from the eight yard-line for the touchdown to put Brandon ahead 7-0.

The Bulldogs forced another punt and went right back to work, driving 60 yards on six plays and scoring again on Varnes’ second touchdown pass — a 19-yard connection with Lester Miller on a beautiful corner fade the Bulldogs added to the playbook earlier this week in practice.

“We got started early,” Varnes said. “We had some shot plays we put in this week, and we felt like they were going to work. They did, and we got after them from there.”

Just like that, it was 14-0 Brandon just eight minutes into the game.

But they weren’t done yet — on the ensuing possession, Bulldog linebacker Blake Smith stepped in front of a pass from Warren Central quarterback Jack Wright, picked it off and returned it 52 yards to the Warren Central 2-yard line.

Jarvis Durr covered those two yards in one play to put Brandon ahead 21-0 with 2:57 left in the first quarter.

“It’s always important to jump out to a fast start like that defensively,” Brandon lineman Ashun Shepphard said. “We try to come out fast and come out hard. That’s what we did tonight.”

Shepphard and company made a Warren Central comeback impossible after Brandon grabbed the three-touchdown lead. 

The Vikings (8-4) did briefly trim Brandon’s lead to 21-10 on Brandon Gilliam’s 41-yard field goal and a Jaevian Mims blocked punt that Ashton Murphy returned for a touchdown, but that’s as close as they got.

Varnes tossed an absolute dime to Miller over the middle of the field for a 55-yard touchdown with 39 seconds left in the first half to stretch the Brandon lead to 28-10 headed into the break.

Warren Central got the defensive stop it needed to start the second half, but Wright threw another ball up for grabs on a 3rd-&-8 and Bulldog corner Chris Brooks made the Vikings pay with a 40-yard interception return for a touchdown to put Brandon ahead 35-10 and blow the game wide open.

“It wasn’t any one person that was going to replace Nate,” Brandon coach Sam Williams said. “We knew it was going to be a group effort, and tonight, our defense stepped up. We knew we were a good defensive team coming into the season and we showed that tonight. We’re as good as anyone in the state when we play like that.”

Varnes only attempted two passes in the second half, but completed 10-of-15 in the first half for 175 yards and three touchdowns. Durr carried the ball 17 times for 62 yards and the touchdown to lead the Bulldogs in rushing. Thigpen finished the night with four catches for 90 yards.

The Bulldog defense held Warren Central to 180 yards of total offense and forced three interceptions and two turnovers on downs. Shepphard led the way with three sacks and a tackle for a loss.

“We had a good game plan coming in and a good week of preparation,” Warren Central coach Josh Morgan said. “We just didn’t make plays early in the game and it kind of got away from us and unfortunately, it wasn’t much of a game after that. But sometimes you just gotta tip your hat.”

The South State Championship against Oak Grove next week is a rematch from Oct. 22, when the Bulldogs escaped with a 24-17 win in a game that came down to the final possession. Blount, Brandon’s star tailback who got knocked out with an injury last week against Gulfport, ran the ball 36 times for 260 yards and a touchdown in that first meeting.

Next week, the Bulldogs will have to beat the defending champs without him.

“It’s a tough task,” Williams said. “You know (coach Drew Causey) and them do a great job, and it’s tough to beat anyone twice, but I like our chances against those guys.”

Feature photo by Tyler Cleveland

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Tyler Cleveland, SBLive
TYLER CLEVELAND, SBLIVE

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