By STAN CALDWELL/Sports Writer

POPLARVILLE — It was pretty simple for Poplarville against Greene County. The Hornets just didn’t have an answer for Coby King.

The Wildcat senior quarterback had a game for the ages in the big Region 8-4A showdown Friday night at The Hornet’s Nest, leading his team to an emphatic 49-28 victory, and claimed the region title in the process.

Poplarville dropped to 8-2 overall and 3-1 in region, and will host Mendenhall next week in the opening round of the Class 4A playoffs. Greene County (8-1, 4-0) will have home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, beginning next week against Quitman.

“They have a lot of skill players, and Coby does a good job of getting the ball in their hands,” said Poplarville coach Jay Beech. “They make it tough on you.”

Indeed, King completed 30 of 37 passes for 435 yards and six touchdown passes, and he also had a running score as well.

The Hornets didn’t surrender their title without a fight in an offensive explosion that saw the two teams combine for 40 first downs and 940 yards of offense.

The tone for this one was set in the first two minutes of the game as each team scored on lightning-quick drives on their opening possession.

Poplarville took the ball to start the game, and drove almost effortlessly on a five-play, 68-yard drive. Senior Nick Miller rambled 30 yards on the first play from scrimmage, and added a 10-yard run before senior Zack Case scored from 15 yards out.

“Coming out of the gate, we wanted to set a tone,” said Case. “We wanted to show who Poplarville is and come out explosive, and you saw the result.”

Case led the Hornets with 160 yards on 13 carries and three touchdowns. Miller added 126 yards on 20 rushes and a TD, and he also caught four passes for 70 yards. For the game, Poplarville ran 56 times for 386 rushing yards.

But it took Greene County just 13 seconds to answer, the time it took junior Jase Matthews to take a bubble screen 54 yards for a score on the Wildcats’ opening play from scrimmage.

“He gets rid of the ball so quickly, and they do so well with the screen games and such,” said Beech. “You’ve just got to pick your poison when you play them.”

That would be the Wildcats only snap of the first quarter, as Poplarville controlled the ball and the clock in the period, thanks to an odd play after the Hornets were stopped near midfield.

Greene County blocked the punt attempt – the only time either team tried one – but the Wildcats lost the ball after trying to scoop the ball, giving the ball back to Poplarville at the Hornet 33-yard-line.

Poplarville converted two fourth downs on a six-and-a-half minute drive, but failed on a third fourth-down try, with Case coming up a yard short at the Wildcat 8.

King wasted no time moving the Wildcats back down the field, driving 92 yards on eight plays, getting the score on a 16-yard pass to Matthews.

A big reason why the Hornets couldn’t stop King was because they couldn’t guard Matthews. The 6-foot-2 speedster finished with 10 catches for 209 yards and four touchdowns.

“We’ve got make some adjustments if we want to beat them, if we play again,” said sophomore linebacker Ayden Harmon. “And we have to tackle better. We let them get away from us too much.

The play of the game came on the ensuing kickoff, when the Wildcats ran a special onside-kick play with King on the hands team, and he recovered the kick at the Hornet 49.

“We felt like we’d need to steal a possession at some point, and that was a play we used for our opening kickoff of the season against West Harrison,” said Greene County coach Michael King. “Coby’s been after me to put it in, and we felt like that was the right time for it.”

This time, it took just five plays for Greene County to get in the end zone on a 15-yard pass from King to junior Javon Watts.

The Hornets responded with an eight-play, 67-yard touchdown drive. Case had runs of 13 and 7 yards, and Miller got the score on a 5-yard run.

“The blocking tonight was amazing,” said Case. “They were blocking and giving us big holes to run through. The blocking outside was great, and it was just a good night for the running game.”

Two off-sides penalties and a short kick gave Greene County the ball at the Poplarville 39, and bled all but 32 seconds off the second-quarter clock on an 11-play scoring drive.

A 20-yard pass from King to Matthews got the Wildcats into a goal-to-go situation, and King ran it in from 3 yards out.

Greene County kept the heat up with the opening drive of the second half, moving 51 yards on seven plays – all passes – with the score coming on a 17-yard pass from King to senior Kaden Blackston.

Poplarville tried to cut into the deficit on the ensuing possession, with a 33-yard run by Case and a 32-yard pass from senior Sydney Blackmon to sophomore Remy Naquin, but once again came up short on fourth down at the Wildcat 6.

“I thought our offense played well, and we ran the ball hard,” said Beech. “We had a couple of long drives that stalled on us, and we can’t do that. We’ve got to score when we get down there.”

And, once again, King made the Hornets pay, guiding the Wildcats on a 94-yard, 11-play drive. A 32-yard pass from King to senior Lakeus Franks got Greene County out of the hole, and King converted a fourth down for a 22-yard scoring pass to Matthews.

On the brink of getting blown out after falling behind 42-14, Poplarville responded with touchdown drives on back-to-back possessions, bracketed around the only time the Hornets stopped the Wildcats all night.

With Blackmon in and out of the lineup with an injury, junior back-up Ian Magee guided the Hornets on an eight-play, 70-yard drive. Case had runs of 30 yards and 19 yards for the score.

“We just have to put this in the past and get ready for the playoffs,” said Case. “It happened, and we can’t dwell on it. I think we’ll see them again.”

Greene County drove to the Hornet 21, but the King threw two incompletions on third and fourth down. However, that was the only time the Wildcats failed on fourth down, as they converted 4 of 5 on fourth downs.

“We went in the locker room and coaches gave us a talk,” said Harmon. “We had to come out and play better defense and wrap up.”

This time, the Hornets drove 79 yards on seven plays to score. A 45-yard pass from Magee to Miller got Poplarville’s drive started, and Case scored his third touchdown of the game on an 8-yard run.

Greene County put the game away on its final possession of the night, as King converted a fourth-and-2 from the Wildcat 43 with a 57-yard scoring play to Matthews, who broke a tackle, kept his balance and motored all the way for the clinching score.

Poplarville will look to regroup with Mendenhall coming into open postseason.

“Definitely going to be a tough task,” said Beech. “They have a good football team. We’ll have our hands full.”