STARKVILLE — Make that 25 straight victories for Hollandale Simmons. Make that two straight State Class 1A championships.

Make that also: By the hardest.

The Simmons Blue Devils outlasted the Lumberton Panthers 30-26 Friday morning and afternoon in a thrilling championship game played at Scott Field.

“It took everything we had,” said Simmons coach Tavares Johnson, tears rolling down his face. “Our guys go both ways. They are just exhausted. They are all heart and guts.”

And, said Johnson, they had some help from above. The Blue Devils were inspired by the late Detavian Reynolds, who died in October at the age of 17. Johnson had been the starting center on Simmons’ 2014 team and was expected to be one of the leaders on last year’s state title team. He was disagnosed with brain cancer in 2014.

“He fought it and fought it,” Johnson said. “When we visited him last at St. Jude’s, he asked the team to just win one more state championship for him. That’s what we did today.

“He was out there with us. It was like he was sitting on my shoulder the whole day.”

Lumberton outgained the champions 320 yards to 244 but two first quarter pass interceptions led to two Simmons touchdowns and eventually a 22-6 lead. Lumberton was fighting from behind the rest of the way.

“Lumberton has a great team and we knew that,” Johnson said. “They won 12 games this season. They are really talented up front. We knew that.”

Marquez Pam led the Blue Devils with 91 yards rushing on 21 carries. Pam had touchdown runs of one and four yards. Chandler Robinson completed six of 11 passes for 91 yards and a touchdown on a 19-yarder to Amos Robinson.

Lumberton was led by Rodraqus Coleman, who carried 22 times for 114 yards and also caught three passes for 39 yards.

Hollandale Simmons had only two seniors in its lineup and will be a favorite to make it three straight state championships.

“We’ll give them two weeks off and then we’ll get back to work,” Johnson said. “We work hard. The Blue Devils are blue collar.”

•••

Look for Rick Cleveland’s column on the Pearl-Clinton 6A State Championship game later tonight.

Close window X

Republish this article

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Unless otherwise noted, you can republish most of Mississippi Today’s stories for free under a Creative Commons license. For digital publications:

• Look for the "Republish This Story" button underneath each story. To republish online, simply click the button, copy the html code and paste into your Content Management System (CMS).
• Editorial cartoons and photo essays are not included under the Creative Commons license and therefore do not have the "Republish This Story" button option. To learn more about our cartoon syndication services, click here.
• You can’t edit our stories, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style.
• You can’t sell or syndicate our stories.
• Any web site our stories appear on must include a contact for your organization.
• If you share our stories on social media, please tag us in your posts using @MSTODAYnews on Facebook and @MSTODAYnews on Twitter.

For print publications:

• You have to credit Mississippi Today. We prefer “Author Name, Mississippi Today” in the byline. If you’re not able to add the byline, please include a line at the top of the story that reads: “This story was originally published by Mississippi Today” and include our website, mississippitoday.org.
• You can’t edit our stories, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style.
• You cannot republish our editorial cartoons, photographs, illustrations or graphics without specific permission (contact our managing editor Kayleigh Skinner for more information). To learn more about our cartoon syndication services, click here.
• Our stories may appear on pages with ads, but not ads specifically sold against our stories.
• You can’t sell or syndicate our stories.
• You can only publish select stories individually — not as a collection.
• Any web site our stories appear on must include a contact for your organization.
• If you share our stories on social media, please tag us in your posts using @MSTODAYnews on Facebook and @MSTODAYnews on Twitter.

If you have any other questions, contact Audience Development Director Lauchlin Fields.

Blue-collar Blue Devils win another 1A title

by Rick Cleveland, Mississippi Today
December 2, 2016

<h1>Blue-collar Blue Devils win another 1A title</h1> <p class="byline">by Rick Cleveland, Mississippi Today <br />December 2, 2016</p> <p>STARKVILLE — Make that 25 straight victories for Hollandale Simmons. Make that two straight State Class 1A championships.</p> <p>Make that also: By the hardest.</p> <p>The Simmons Blue Devils outlasted the Lumberton Panthers 30-26 Friday morning and afternoon in a thrilling championship game played at Scott Field.</p> <p>“It took everything we had,” said Simmons coach Tavares Johnson, tears rolling down his face. “Our guys go both ways. They are just exhausted. They are all heart and guts.”</p> <p>And, said Johnson, they had some help from above. The Blue Devils were inspired by the late Detavian Reynolds, who died in October at the age of 17. Johnson had been the starting center on Simmons’ 2014 team and was expected to be one of the leaders on last year’s state title team. He was disagnosed with brain cancer in 2014.</p> <p>“He fought it and fought it,” Johnson said. “When we visited him last at St. Jude’s, he asked the team to just win one more state championship for him. That’s what we did today.</p> <p>“He was out there with us. It was like he was sitting on my shoulder the whole day.”</p> <p>Lumberton outgained the champions 320 yards to 244 but two first quarter pass interceptions led to two Simmons touchdowns and eventually a 22-6 lead. Lumberton was fighting from behind the rest of the way.</p> <p>“Lumberton has a great team and we knew that,” Johnson said. “They won 12 games this season. They are really talented up front. We knew that.”</p> <p>Marquez Pam led the Blue Devils with 91 yards rushing on 21 carries. Pam had touchdown runs of one and four yards. Chandler Robinson completed six of 11 passes for 91 yards and a touchdown on a 19-yarder to Amos Robinson.</p> <p>Lumberton was led by Rodraqus Coleman, who carried 22 times for 114 yards and also caught three passes for 39 yards.</p> <p>Hollandale Simmons had only two seniors in its lineup and will be a favorite to make it three straight state championships.</p> <p>“We’ll give them two weeks off and then we’ll get back to work,” Johnson said. “We work hard. The Blue Devils are blue collar.”</p> <p>•••</p> <p>Look for Rick Cleveland’s column on the Pearl-Clinton 6A State Championship game later tonight.</p> <p>This <a target="_blank" href="https://mississippitoday.org/2016/12/02/blue-collar-blue-devils-win-another-1a-title/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://mississippitoday.org">Mississippi Today</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img src="https://i0.wp.com/mississippitoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/MT_square-thumb.jpg?fit=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1" style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;"><img id="republication-tracker-tool-source" src="https://mississippitoday.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=36917" style="width:1px;height:1px;"></p> Copy to Clipboard

1