Kosciusko rising senior Antonio Harmon needs no introduction when talking about the best wide receivers in the Magnolia State. The rangy wideout has garnered scholarship offers from numerous Power Five programs.
Harmon’s role as a safety late last October, however, keyed the Whippets to a victory and into the MHSAA Class 4A playoffs.
A week before the Whippets met the Trojans, they picked up their second win of the season which snapped a five-game losing streak.
Northeast Lauderdale traveled to Attala County on Friday, October 25, with a 2-7 record fresh off a 28-20 loss to Choctaw Central.
Northeast Lauderdale’s Jaheim Smith scored on an 8-yard run to push the Trojans ahead, 6-0, early in the first quarter.
Kosciusko answered with a 12-yard touchdown off a throw from Ethan Wood to Harmon at the start of the second quarter to knot the score at 6 after a failed point-after attempt.
Trojans’ kicker Chad Pope knocked through a 28-yard, second-quarter field goal to send Northeast Lauderdale into the half with a 9-6 lead.
The third quarter saw the Whippets regain the lead with a 3-yard touchdown run from Damian Foster and an extra point from Will Carter. The Trojans regained the lead late in the fourth quarter when Lakedrick Rowe caught a 22-yard touchdown pass.
With just seconds remaining in the final quarter, the Northeast Lauderdale offense took the field in the red zone as it attempted to tack on six more points to pad its Region 4-4A resume.
Playing deep in the secondary, Harmon picked off the Trojan’s last-second scoring attempt and weaved his way through a sea of Northeast Lauderdale players as he ran 95 yards for the pick-six touchdown, giving Kosciusko a 19-15 win.
“Once he got a block from George Carter, there was nobody over there,” former Kosciusko coach Kelly Causey said following the win. “He just had to hold onto the ball. He did a great job of taking it to the house.”
