By Stan Caldwell/Sports Writer

LAUREL – Stone High got off the bus at Northeast Jones Friday night with its mission clear and simple.

Win and the Tomcats would clinch the Region 3-5A championship outright, and the No. 1 seed in the Class 5A playoffs that comes with it. Lose and they would need to win next week to wrap things up.

And the Tomcats took care of business, outlasting the Tigers 17-7 in a hard-fought region contest at Tiger Stadium on the NE Jones campus. Stone remained undefeated in region at 4-0 (6-3 overall), while the Tigers dropped to 4-5 and 1-3.

“We knew coming in that they’re really good football team, especially defensively,” said Stone coach Jacob Aycock. “They maybe have seven guys on their defense who could play at the next level.

“So I didn’t think we got off to a slow start. They had a really good plan on defense, and they executed it really well. But we stayed the course. It was a big night for us. We won the region championship tonight, but that’s not our ultimate goal. We want to keep this thing going.”

This one was a defensive struggle from start to finish, and the Tomcats proved better at it than the Tigers. Stone didn’t get a lot of offense going against a talented defensive front for NE Jones, but got just enough to support its defense.

It wasn’t until midway through the first quarter that either team mustered a consistent drive, and it was the Tomcats who got rolling first. Taking over at their own 20-yard-line, Stone mounted a patient drive deep into Tiger territory.

Sophomore Ayden Green ignited the drive with an 11-yard run, then junior quarterback Zander Howard hit two big pass plays, both to senior Avyon Stringfellow for 16 and 20 yards.

“We had to get confident that we could run on them,” said Green. “We had to build our speed up. If our offensive line can’t get it done, we can’t do anything running it. So we had to build them up, give them some confidence, and once we got going, it was good from there.”

The Tomcats converted a fourth-and-5 at the Tiger 24 on an encroachment call, then Howard scrambled around right end for 14 yards and a first-and-goal at the NEJ 5.

And then things got weird.

On first down, Green was hemmed in on a jet sweep around the left side, reversed field and tried to run around the right side but was tackled for a 10-yard loss, then Howard threw incomplete.

At that point, there was a long discussion about whether Howard had grounded the ball illegally. Once the discussion was finished without a penalty called, the head official held up a closed fist to indicate fourth down, and despite vehement arguments from the Stone bench, the call stood.

So, instead of a third-down play to try for a touchdown, because of the official’s mistake, Stone was forced to settle for a 32-yard field goal from Ren Hendrix.

“This is Year 16 for me coaching, and I told the official I’ve never just lost a down, a play on offense,” said Aycock. “But it happened. However we trust our kicker. He’s never kicked before this season, but he’s been great for us all year and we lean on him a lot.”

Northeast seemed to get a jolt of energy out of the gift from the referees. Sophomore Bryson Dyess picked up 15 yards on the first play after the kickoff, then senior A.J. Pugh rambled for 11 more to near midfield.

But on third down, the Tomcats forced a fumble, and senior Colton Ladner pounced on the loose ball at the Stone 46.

“He dropped it right in front of me,” said Ladner. “Me and Cayden Lusher were right on it. That was a great turnover, and we just kept getting on them. I was really hoping we could keep that zero up there, but they did get one on us.”

Stone couldn’t do anything with that turnover, but the next time the Tigers put the ball on the ground, late in the second quarter, senior Jacoby Jones alertly scooped up the ball and dashed 55 yards for a touchdown and a 10-0 lead for Stone.

“Our D-line played really well all night,” said Aycock. “And I was especially proud of our two senior linebackers. They just played phenomenal tonight.”

Northeast Jones then drove inside the Tomcat 30, but a fumble cost the Tigers 6 yards, and junior quarterback Elijah Collins was stopped a yard short on fourth-and-2 from the Stone 23.

Buoyed by the finish to the first half, Stone came out of the locker room for the second half with a full head of steam.

Sophomore Sammy Johnson broke through the kickoff coverage to open the third quarter and covered 57 yards before being run out of bounds at the Northeast 37-yard line.

The Tomcats needed just 66 seconds to take a commanding lead. Howard connected with Stringfield for 12 yards, then hit tight end Jenson Cain on a hitch route to the right side for 14 yards.

The next play, on first-and-goal from the 10, Green swept around left end and dashed into the end zone for the score.

“When I got outside, I saw my o-lineman, Tyler Jones, had me a great block,” Green said, who ran 16 times for a net of 33 yards. “I just went around him into the clear.”

With their backs to the wall, the Tigers responded with their best offensive series of the game, a 17-play, 68-yard scoring march that took 7 minutes, 58 seconds off the clock.

Northeast converted three third downs and two fourth downs, including the touchdown on a 20-yard pass from Collins to McGruder.

After that, the Tomcats leaned on their defense to hold the 10-point lead, and while they bent a little, they didn’t break.