By Brad Greer

For North Delta, it was yet another heartbreaking end as the Green Wave saw their season come to a close at home for the third straight year in a last second 23-21 loss to Marshall Academy in the MAIS North State AA championship at Green Wave Field.

“We got some young men in that locker room that are hurting right now, but I told them just go through life just the way they went through this football season and if they do they are going to be just fine,” said a somber North Delta head coach Brandon Ciaramitaro.

Roy Billions could not have picked a better time to kick his first field goal of the season Friday night.
After a time out call by his own coach, Billions calmly booted a 23-yard field goal with 13 seconds remaining to give the Marshall Patriots the win.

“I knew it was going through,” said Billions of his game-winning kick. “I had to be ready when my number was called and I had to believe in myself. I knew I had to come through for my team.”

Marshall (11-2) will now face Brookhaven Friday at Millsaps College  for the Academy AA State championship.

The Patriots began their game-winning drive after stopping North Delta on downs at the Marshall 34 yard-line with 5:28 left in the game.

Marshall quarterback Dakota Dailey, who had been held in check for most of the night, kept the drive alive with a 22-yard run on 3rd-and-11 from his own 49.

After a pair of nine-yard runs and a four yard pickup by Artemus Boyd, Marshall head coach Bart Jenkins called time out just to settle his senior field goal kicker down.

“I did not want to ice him (Billions) on that time out. I just wanted to calm him down,” said Jenkins. “He is a first year player and I just wanted to get his head clear. We had  two other kickers on the sidelines, but I wanted to make sure Roy could do it,” said Jenkins.

North Delta (10-3) looked well on its way to its first championship title game since 2001 as they held a 21-6 halftime lead.

North Delta took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter on a Tyler Pirtle 25-yard touchdown run at the 2:44 mark.
The Green Wave extended its lead to 14-0 early in the second quarter when Taylor Morris scored from three yards out to cap an eight-play, 42-yard drive that was set up by Hunter Pitcher’s fumble recovery on the Marshall 42.

North Delta increased its advantage to 21-0 later in the quarter as Pirtle connected with Austin Hagstrom on a 89-yard pass.

Marshall finally got on the board with 3:19 left before halftime as McAlexander scored on a 65-yard touchdown reception from Dailey.

“We pretty much shut down their passing attack so they started running the ball. They hit us with some big plays there and they just controlled the clock. That scramble by Dailey on that last drive was the play of the game. We had him sacked and somehow he got out of it and got the first down,” said Ciaramitaro.

Marshall began the second half using the ground game as the Patriots rushed the ball 10 straight times  before attempting a pass.

With 1:29 left in the third, Marshall scored on a 39-yard touchdown pass from Dailey to senior wide receiver Aaron McAlexander cutting North Delta’s lead at 21-14 after the two-point conversion.

The score would remain that way until the first play of the fourth quarter when sophomore running back Devin McGreger ran for a  50-yard touchdown to close the margin to 21-20 after Billions missed the point after.

Marshall outgained North Delta 313-279 including 201-90 in the second half. The Patriots rushed for 172 yards on 34 attempts while the Green Wave registered 156 yards on 40 carries.

Morris led North Delta in rushing with 88 yards on 11 carries while Pirtle  added 75 yards on 23 carries. Pirtle was  eight-for-11 passing for 123 yards and one touchdown.

Hagstrom led the receiving corps with three catches for 90 yards while Morris chipped in with four catches for 23 yards. Chase Coker contributed with one catch for 10 yards.

Pitcher led the North Delta defense with 11 tackles and a fumble recovery. Will Magee followed with eight stops while Tyler Beard and Pirtle each recorded six stops.